Bittersweet Endings

The end of camp is also a beginning.

The end of camp means saying “see you later”.

The end of camp feels like an amazing high quality chocolate bar that you never want to end and savor it to the last nibble. And ultimately, can’t wait until you allow yourself to taste it again!

The summer season in Maine ends with cool nights, bright days and feel of autumn high in the air. The bittersweet vine begins to form its bright berries that make us smile in the darkening days of fall. The golden rod flower stands erect and bright in the mellowing sun. Afternoons end all too quickly and dusk settles in as we yearn for the long summer days.

Ending anything great is hard to part with – like the end of a good novel or a challenging game or a zip on the Runoia Dragonfly.

The good news about the end of camp is you have your memories, your friendships, your totems of the summer experienced. Be they symbols as in an award for accomplishments, an emblem like your art projects, a feeling you hold near and dear, or the growth others notice in you, these parts of summer stay with you like the bittersweet vine continues to grow.  The good news about the end of camp is that Runoia will be there for you in 2015 and beyond.

Although camp ending is bittersweet, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem In Memoriam:27, 1850 sums it up so well:

I hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.

And as we sing at Runoia “And when I get back home again, I’m gonna study hard and then, back to canoes and paddles”

Happy Back to School!