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The weather outside is gorgeous!

It’s beginning to look at lot like April. The weather in Maine is incredibly mild which is so very unusual for this time of year.  With not a glimpse of the fluffy, white stuff to be had it has an interesting impact on the feelings of the season.  My children have never in their lives had a Christmas without snow.  I am fielding lots of questions about how on earth Santa is going to make the trek from the North Pole without a soft landing spot.  Luckily having grown up in a country where there is almost never snow in December I can reassure them that he will definitely get here.  Our conversations then turned to camp and ‘what if the snow came later and it was still freezing in June?’   An interesting thought and one we hope will not come true any time in the near future.  While it would certainly be fun to have a winter camp session filled with ice skating, cross country skiing, snow shoeing and of course s’mores around a roaring fire we love our long summer days.

The weather certainly plays a huge role on our perception of events and experiences.  We expect here in Maine that it will be cold and snowy for the Holidays and that the summer will be filled with long, warm days.  We shall embrace our mild winter and imagine what it would be like if we could actually ski over break while hoping we will get our fair share of snow long before it is time for camp.

Hoping you all have days that are merry, bright and filled with the kind of weather that suits your activities.  Here at camp we will enjoy seeing the grass for a few more weeks and celebrate not having to shovel yet.

Sending best wishes for the season from our homes to yours,

The Runoia Team

As we approach the shortest day of the year, our minds turn toward summer time where the days stretch on and on and dusk lasts beyond bedtime.

The winter’s ying to the summer’s yang is a reminder of contrasts in every day life: can you enjoy the warmth without cold? Does the summer lake water feel more welcome after you’ve skated on the same frozen pond? Do the fresh spring leaves inspire you with delight after their branches have been barren all winter?

How about the cool touch of snow and the way a fire side evening melts it away?

What about seeing a friend after ten months of being away?

Or unplugging from a phone and social media to take in the beauty of a campfire or sunset reflecting on the lake, a warm friend near you and the depth of conversations not spoken in IM lingo?

Fleeting moments of a winter’s day makes us yearn for endless summer. Bring it all on so we know the difference. Revel and make merriment in the depth of the darkness only to sojourn in a summer day. Peace to all in the Runoia world!

It’s the time of year we turn back the clocks.  As the last few colorful leaves cling on the trees, they await their perpetual fall to the forest floor, and here in the northern hemisphere, we prepare for the shorter, darker, colder days.  The joys of summertime and summer camp start to become a distant memories but much like the leaves on the trees, we cling to these memories and experiences and they bring us such great joy.

We are reminded of this phenomenon every year when we set our clocks back an hour and brace ourselves for the long winter months.  We are engrossed in our hectic lives of work and school routines and it is also a perfect time to reflect on the amazing experiences from summers’ past.  I saw this poem and it inspired me to think about the double meaning of messing with time and turning back the clocks and how it relates to camp and personal growth:

Sometimes we have to
turn back the clock
to face our fears.
Search back through our memories
to find out how and when they began.
Look deep within our soul
for the answers that we seek.
Locate the source of our torment
to eradicate it complete.
Our fears began somewhere
and the only way to find out where and when
is to turn back the clock.

-David Harris

Summer camp provides an incredible outlet to our youth to face their fears both physically and socially and to try new things that they never would have tried back in the safety of their lives at home.  The simple concept of creating our own community for seven weeks in Maine where we work, play, learn, sleep and eat together each day can be a source of fear and uncertainty for many of our new campers each summer at Camp Runoia.

Once we experience it, we realize the value and importance of what we have created and the lessons and personal growth that ensue.  The bonds and the connectivity that we experience in our own “bubble” each summer is a hard concept to relate to unless you have experienced this on your own.

As the days get shorter and time has “changed” I would challenge you to ask yourself…if you could turn back time, what would you

have done differently?  We all know that this is not possible, but the beauty of summer camp is that each summer, we all have the opportunity to start fresh and build off our experiences from the past summer.  We can conquer our fears and take the experience to the next level.  What is it like to live in a cabin away from home?  What does it feel like to try the “Dragonfly” for the first time?  How will I ever hike to the top of Mount Katahdin?

Runoia girls face these fears each summer head on.  They are willing to try new things and go outside of their comfort zone.  Once they accomplish the unknown, they have such a great sense of empowerment and accomplishment.  Time is an incredible concept.  It can be welcome, or it can be a burden, but most of all it allows us to experience new things, learn about ourselves and reflect to strengthen ourselves as individuals.