Greetings from Hilltop.
First of all, apologies for the late hour. A camp day occasionally gets away from a person. I imagine many of you will catch this on Monday morning. But, there may be an upside to writing this late, as you’ll see below.
When we’re setting the calendar for the year, the days of the week that the sessions start and end aren’t a huge consideration. The other variables are just more important. But, when the time comes to start the session, we do notice. When the Session starts on a Thursday, we’re presented with an interesting choice with what to do with the first Sunday. Sundays are special days in camp. Normally, we wake up a little late, have a nice breakfast, and then all gather for Sunday Assembly. At Sunday Assembly, a cabin or tent group leads a discussion of an important topic in camp in a special, beautiful place. After Sunday Assembly, we have Sunday work projects. Chores are a part of camp, both daily and weekly. For this to really be a community, everyone here must both give and receive, and so it’s important that campers contribute to the work of keeping this place going. After work projects, we have lunch, and extra long rest hour, a special fun Sunday afternoon activity, and finally, dinner and Evening Fire. Sundays are days were we slow down, and focus on service and reflection. They’re some of my favorite days in camp.
The trouble is, before you introduce a special, out of the ordinary day in camp, you need to establish what the ordinary is. It’s day four of the session. We had arrival day, Rotation Day, and one day of classes. To switch things up on the campers now would not do. At the same time, Evening Fire is the culminating thing of Sundays. We gather in the Lodge, share music and poetry, and participate in a number of special Evening Fire traditions. It’s one of camp’s oldest traditions and most beloved. To wait until day eleven of the session to have one seems wrong.
So, we pulled a maneuver we have a few other times when the session starts on a Wednesday or Thursday. We had a normal day of classes, and then Evening Fire for evening activity. Problem solved.
I was very comfortable with the choice of schedule, but what I couldn’t have predicted was how beautiful this Evening Fire would be (there’s the upside of writing this so late – I can tell you how Evening Fire actually was, not just how much I’m looking forward to it). It was really special. To be honest, the first Evening Fire of a session is rarely so great. We’re still getting to know each other, still getting in to the swing of things. Sometimes that first one can be a bit of going through the motions and figuring it out if we’re being honest. Tonight, somehow, the campers and staff who shared turned it into a truly beautiful one. There were touching moments, heartfelt performances, and moments of awe. It’s just what you hope for when you step into the Lodge on a Sunday evening.
So, all is well here on Orcas. It’s still early days, friendships are still forming, and what First Session will be is still coming into view. But we’re just where we should be and hearts are full. Thank you for sharing your children with, us, as always.