I can’t believe the last full day of camp is already over. Every year I get tricked by the slowness of Monday and forget how quickly the rest of the week goes by. Half a day isn’t enough time left with these kids.
Maybe one of the reasons I feel like today went by in a blink is that I missed a lot of it. Between buying and wrapping presents and decorating for the birthday party, I wasn’t at the field a lot today. From the little I did see and what I’ve heard from the coaches and campers, tomorrow’s game is going to be a great one. I can’t wait to watch it.
I was feeling a little bad about not being around for a large part of today until I started thinking what I was around for. I had good conversations with some boys at breakfast, helped with Miss Patti’s object lesson during Morning Huddle, and played many rounds of Ships and Sailors and Up Down. A couple staff members taught everyone those games a few days ago, and now every time there’s a free five minutes the boys want to play. I even saw a few of the kids organizing a round of Up Down themselves today when the rest of the campers and coaches were taking a drink break.
What struck me about these moments was not the length of them, but the quality. Campers did and said things today that I will remember forever, and most of these instances were just a few seconds or minutes long. It doesn’t take a long time for the boys to make an impact on me, and I think that’s true the other way around as well. There are lots of moments that happen during camp that on their own might not seem like much, but added together add up to something really important. We never know what moment of camp is going to stick with any individual camper as they go back to their lives at home.
Today was the birthday party, which is always a camp highlight. We had a bounce house and obstacle course that the boys simply could not get enough of. Every camper also received a gift – either a glove, cleats, warm up jacket, or Curve jersey, depending on how many years he had been at camp. We sang happy birthday to everyone and ate cake and ice cream. There was even a special evening reward that every single boy earned – roasting marshmallows.
All of these things were a lot of fun, but I wonder which moments the kids will still be talking about a month from now. Maybe it will be racing their coach in the bouncy obstacle course or getting some sweet new cleats with red and blue laces. Maybe something smaller will stick out to them – playing kids versus coaches keep away with the football, catching lightning bugs, talking with a coach, having a mini dance party while waiting for their turn in the showers. It doesn’t always take something big to make an impact on someone’s life. All it takes to show the kids we care about them is paying attention, listening, and being with them in whatever moments we’re around for.
