Greetings from Hilltop. It’s a whole lot quieter in Camp right now than it has been for the last four weeks. A handful of campers are still wandering the property with their parents, and the staff are cleaning up so they can go on their time off in between sessions. The vast majority of campers are on their way home. The boats left about two hours ago. At Skyline Marina in Anacortes, parents meeting their campers there picked them up, and most of the campers got on buses heading to Woodland Park and Seatac Airport. So far, travel day is going smoothly.
More important than the logistics is the settling in that’s happening right now about what’s occurred here for the last four weeks. Last night, we had our final Evening Fire of the session. As usual, it was a bittersweet time together. Songs were sung, tears were shed. As we always do at the end of the last Evening Fire of the Session, we ended by circling underneath the maple tree with candles, singing camp songs, then extinguishing them one by one, and singing the good night song one last time.
This morning, a bit bleary eyed, we raised the flags one last time, had a quick breakfast, and organized to get all the campers aboard the boats, and waved goodbye. Or maybe it was farewell, or maybe see you next year. This departures are always a little uncertain. Several of us were chuckling at the campers getting their phones back, and typing each other’s numbers into them while trying to collect their stuff and get on the boats. “Couldn’t they have written those down on a piece of paper anytime in the last few days?,” we said to each other. We pick our battles.
As they come home to you, be prepared to witness a little bit of disorientation on upon re-entry into what we call “the real world.” Camp is an immersive experienced, very focused on the here and now. Retuning to normalcy causes all sorts of reactions. Some will immediately be bursting with stories and songs. Some will be glued to their devices, talking with camp friends. Some will experience homesickness’ lesser known cousin, campsickness. Rest assured, your child will adjust in a couple of days. But, the independence, confidence, ability to communicate and make friends, and grit will last. You might even notice them offering to clear the table at dinner. They’ve done it every day for a month here, and habits do tend to form.
Perhaps they, and you, are already wondering about how to sign up for next year. I’m pleased to tell you that registration for 2019 is already available on our website. We reserve spots for returning campers until November 30, so there’s no real rush, but many families like to take care of it when Camp is at the front of mind. We will send out reminders and so forth, but we do encourage you to mind that November 30 deadline. For the last several years, all three of our sessions filled on December 1, and we have no reason to believe it will be different next year. You can find that registration form by logging into your parent account at fourwindscamp.org/login, clicking on “Registration Form,” selecting the 2019 season, and filling out the form. We certainly appreciate you encouraging new families to enroll as well. We accept applications from new families at any time, and will enroll them in the order we received their applications starting on December 1. In other words, the sooner the better.
Thank you so much for sharing your children with us this month. It’s been an amazing session, and we hope to see all the campers back next year. Now we’re due for a little rest, so we can be ready for the Second Session campers on Monday. It’s been a privilege.