How lucky are some of us that we get to experience “vacation” from school or our busy work lives. Hearing that four million college students go to Florida each “Spring Break” got me thinking about the concept of vacation.
Definitions vary but the basic concept is the same as defined in Merriam-Webster:
a period of time that a person spends away from home, school, or business usually in order to relax or travel.
When you pause to think of it, we are quite privileged to take the time and resources to relax and possibly travel. I just returned from vacation. I took a trip to the windward islands of the Caribbean where I, with family and friends, rented a sailboat and cruised island to island. I love vacation with a purpose and fun. I love to learn, be active and engaged in what I’m doing. So a sailing trip is a good match for me! And I certainly do feel lucky to have the opportunity to do a trip.
Summer camp is often seen as vacation. Of course, being at Camp Runoia, in the beautiful Belgrade Lakes of Maine, is fun and engaging, learning and skill building. Technically it’s not about relaxing or necessarily traveling but it’s all about having a break from routine and being away from home and school. And of course, being unplugged. One could say campers get a vacation from their phones!
Whether you take vacation to relax or to learn and engage in something completely different, if you get to have a vacation, consider yourself charmed. You have the chance to take a break from your daily life to experience something outside of your routine be it school or work life.
Choosing to have your wedding at camp takes a certain kind of kinship and a unifying soulfulness between two people. Camp is an extraordinary place to get married with sweeping views of the lake, sunsets, the fields and woods, the piney paths and glorious ferns. It also rustic and country feeling, it’s down to earth and honestly, it can be downright chilly in the early weeks of the summer or later in the season.
However, for some people, camp as a wedding venue could not be more perfect. The sounds of the screen doors slamming as people merrily go from building to event, the call of the loon, the way the music of the reception band hangs in the air like it is floating. The smell of the sweet ferns, the vivid colors, the heron who flies by as you’re taking your vows, lakeside on the beach.
We have the amazing opportunity to share Runoia with others after the camp season. Although the nights get chilly, the days of late August, early September are bold and filled with strong sunshine. Sunsets come a bit earlier and darkness follows dusk rapidly.
Their campers are performing art students who brought loads of guitars and keyboards, saxophones and microphones and filled Runoia nooks and crannies with practice bands and choral music all week. They also had acting classes and creative writing “Flow” classes, dance classes and acapella singing practice. Our Runoia counselor staff helped run archery, tennis, swimming, ropes, canoe and kayaking activities and the campers loved every minute of camp. Their cabin counselors were graduates from the YAA program plus the youth coordinator from Christ Church (their sponsoring organization) in Bronxville, NY and parent chaperones. The founder and director, Sharyn Pirtle also managed to hire amazing musicians and concert organizers to run the program. The church minister was also at camp, as were his two children. At the end of their week, guess what? They created an incredible performance as their grand finale which was also a testament to their hard work at camp. The confidence and pride you could see in each camper was palpable.
To experience a different group than the Runoia camper group at Runoia felt unique and natural. To witness the growth and warmth from the YAA campers was indeed energizing and similar to our Runoia experience. An August moon and headlamps helped people navigate the unfamiliar camp paths and trails after dark and you could see the smiles lit up in the moonlight. New experiences for many of these campers will make them stronger and more worldly from being in a safe place in nature and learning to love even the random spider that crawled by or the thunderstorm that arrived one evening. Opportunities to share Camp Runoia with others was a great feeling!
