Well, as usual, it’s impossible to sum up a week in just a few words. It’s also very difficult to write reflectively about camp without it being somewhat personal. Every year stands out for different reasons, but Illuminate had a particular energy that is hard to define. In a way, it felt like we had “grown up.”
Many kids and adults have been with us since the beginning. They’ve been a part of this thing we call Camp Vineyard since it was about 80 folks sweating in the basement of the Junction Dining Hall. Shoot, they remember when we didn’t even fill up one section of camp. They’ve seen the transitions as we’ve grown every year.
It’s more than numbers, though. Each year, we’ve had a team of people bring their own individual styles into each area of the events and activities. Yes, I’m the camp director, and many things we do started out in my brain. However, the vast majority of events, games, names, and memories come out of the adults’ and the campers’ own creativity. Every year, there’s been something new added to the Camp Vineyard story that will be a reference for future years.
As that story has grown, it’s created this great, weird, fun “other world” that we get to be in for a week. It’s like going to Disney World: even the language you use is different. Nowhere but a Disney park can you use Space Mountain as a navigational aid, and nowhere but camp can you talk seriously with a member of the Clear Team about a Poisonous Purple Penguin helping clean up the slime toilet and pie pants in Counselor World.
By no means am I saying that we have it all figured out, or that there aren’t things we will continue to improve. I’m simply thankful for the opportunity to go back to camp every year, to work with an amazing team of adults, and to have fun with such a neat bunch of campers. As I said in the opening session, “My name is Jon, I’m the camp director, and I have the best job in the world!”