When camp ends, and we all have to pack up and go back to our 10-month homes, it can be really difficult. Don’t get me wrong, I do miss my house, my friends, and my community when I am away at camp. And, of course, there is so much to love about the fall, especially in New England…pumpkin spice lattes, football season, back-to-school, and apple picking. But the thing I now love most about the fall is that it means we can turn the page to next summer!
As a camper, and even today as a camper posing as a grown-up, I have always had a hard time adjusting back to “regular” life. However, by reliving memories of the summer past and focusing on the summer ahead, I no longer feel that camp-sick pang. For me, each new day is one step closer to “Opening Day.” And now, as a full time camp director, camp is “regular” life. How cool is that?
2018 will be a year of firsts! Camp Somerset will see its first League, its first play, its first trip-day, and its first Somer Cup. Our dining hall will serve its first meals, our first bunks will form lifelong friendships, and our girls will leave with the stories and the memories that can never be replicated. Our “OCs” (original campers) will walk off the buses for the very first time and start something that will endure for generations. That visual, and that excitement, is what has gotten me through these first days back at home, and what will sustain me until June. Now, on to ’18.
-KLA
