Climbing That Tower
What an incredible day we had today. We have been here for only one week but it feels like home to everyone inside these gates. Year after year, I still get that feeling of total joy being completely surrounded by a community that breathes positivity day in and day out. You just can’t walk 5 feet without seeing kids and staff arm in arm or holding hands. We all crave closeness and human connection and it thrives here. That feeling of being completely safe and trusting people who just entered our lives transforms who we are. It changes us for the better. We have become more open, more trusting, happier and it happens this quickly. It’s so hard to describe and my words can hardly give justice to what is happening here. I only hope that you at home can feel what we feel. Your children, many who are experiencing this for the very first time, have entered a world where they can just be themselves and are celebrated for it. Only a week in and this summer has a feeling that is truly indescribable.
We just finished our calls to the new campers families to go over their first week and I had a conversation with a mom and shared how her daughters favorite activity was climbing the rock tower to which she said that there is just no way her daughter climbed that tower. She couldn’t believe what I was saying. Her daughter was a bit timid and fearful of heights and would never in a million years try something that challenging. She asked me to make sure I had the right camper. I was second guessing the information I had so I went to that camper and asked her myself about her climbing adventure to which she replied, “I did it. I climbed the tower.” She told me how her heart was beating so hard but she did it and the look on her face was filled with so much pride. She did something that she thought she couldn’t and that is how change happens. One step up that rock tower became two steps which then became overcoming a fear and finding a strength you just didn’t know you had. Needless to say, the mom was in tears and her daughter looked fear in the face and climbed that tower.
It was a busy day for our Chenny athletes with games at home and away. We couldn’t be more proud of their effort and sportsmanship. Win or loose they brought their “A” game and had a ball.
Middy/Inter Girls LAX – CAW 6 @ Starlight 11
Super Girls Soccer – CAW 6 @ Camp Wayne 4
Collegiate Boys Basketball – CAW 48 @ Tioga 9
Super Boys Basketball – CAW 78 vs. Nesher 54
We discovered that our kids aren’t the only ones with some incredible talent as our staff shined bright at tonights’s Staff Talent Show. Our kids were blown away as they saw their counselors on stage showing off their talent. They sang and danced, they told jokes, they jammed on the guitar, the performed on the lyra and silks and they dazzled us all. Kids were screaming and cheering on their counselors with so much pride it so sweet to see. The kids loved it, the staff loved it and it’s nights like these that brings this family closer. After the show ended and it was dismissal, I overheard a Middy camper say to her counselor who performed tonight, “I know how nervous you were to sing on stage tonight, but you were just so brave and I’m so proud of you.” The counselor wrapped her arms around her camper as they walked back to the bunk and I stared in awe. These two people met just 6 days ago but the bond they created is so strong and is so real. Clearly her counselor shared how she was nervous to sing on stage tonight and her camper was right there to tell her how proud she was of her. This is the magic of this place. You don’t have to look to far. You just have to open your eyes and its right there in front of you.
Chenny out.