“You get a strange feeling when you leave a place, like you’ll not only miss they people you love, but you miss the person you are at this time and place because you’ll never be this way ever again”-Azar Nafasi

Three weeks have come and gone, since we bid farewell to each other and our place.  Our place is Camp Runoia.  At camp we are the best possible “us” that we can be.  We are safe, we are encouraged and we are organically just ourselves.  The friendships we formed at camp are unique.  They are extraordinary relationships.

I recently traveled to California and was with friends and family who I had not seen in years.  We talked a lot about camp.  My uncle and cousins said at one point “ We get it.  We are camp people.”  Until you have been to camp, until camp has defined who you are, you cannot totally comprehend the degree of depth that overnight camp has on an individual.

And now the sun sets earlier, September is upon us.  This fall brings anew for us all.  New school year, new teachers, some have new homes and communities.  But we have our best self, stashed inside.  Like a treasure in our pocket, we can bring our inner strength and our inner sunshine to this new season and these new experiences.  We will never be the same again, we grow and we change and with that is the hope that we are our best selves because in part of who we became at camp.  At our Camp Runoia…our home away from home.

I find that I take myself home, to Camp Runoia, almost daily.  I hum along to songs and think about the sound of the lake and the green of the giant ferns.

“…Dip, dip and swing them back…Flashing with silver…follow the wild goose flight…dip, dip and swing…” — Hum along through the changing seasons … and be your best self on whatever adventure this fall brings.

Kyleigh – Camp Runoia Associate Director