We like to think of the end as a new beginning. Campers and counselors alike take new skills with them to school and work and life. They cherish new friendships, some that will last a lifetime. Canoeing, sailing, swimming under the sun – those skills will last forever. The counselor who did something caring and thoughtful at a time that a camper needed it, a friend who helped another when they need help, that laughter, endless laughter that they can hear ringing in their ears… these glimpses and moments of summer are instants that weave into the tapestry of campers’ and counselors’ lives. Cotillion is our final evening together. A night of tradition starting with processional singing It’s Blue and White, the teams sitting and facing each other in the Lodge, the awards and ribbons, points awarded and special moments of acknowledging accomplishments. The traditional game of #Hucklebucklebeanstalk to find the final scores of the season, the Bobos and cheers and tears, candle lit paths and the cotillion fireside singing.
This night helps put a punctuation mark at the end of the chapter of the summer of 2015. With Runoia’s 110th summer coming up in 2016, a new chapter will be written.Bitter and sweet. Bitter in the ending, sweet in the experience. Bitter in the goodbyes, sweet in the new friendships.
I am nervous there are butterflies in my stomach, my nights are often sleepless and I start my days in great anticipation. It is almost time for camp! I have spent the whole year since the end of last August preparing for this. The stage is set and I eagerly anticipate the curtains opening.
The days become a blur with long hours both in the office and out on site. We are preparing, checking, double checking, chasing down information, finishing up the last projects and filling the waiting with work.
Even though I have done this many times it is always so new, so exciting and just a little nerve wracking. I will be met with a new audience while some faces are the same the mix is different. Will I recognize returning faces? Will the lake be warm? Will all run smoothly? Will the sun shine? Can we meet the promises that we have sold to families and to our new staff?
I am confident in Runoia’s ability to run smoothly like a well-oiled machine. We live for and store up our energy for this – the summer season when it truly is camp time. Maine is looking beautiful and ready for it’s summer campers and their families.
Bring it on it’s going to be awesome and we are going to totally make the Runoia dream team for 2015 a reality!
In the center of camp is a special place. Its hub endures the hustle and bustle of camp’s daily flow. We greet it with the pattering of feet as we fall out from flag raising and it shudders at the end of the day as milk gets spilled upon its floors and crackers crumble into happy mouths. We sing and fill the rafters with graces, bobos and birthday songs.
Where else besides cabins do we spend two and a half hours almost every day with an assorted group of random people? Where else could you find thousands of red and white flowered and plain squares? Like a silent movie, benches and chairs get moved in and out, up on top of tables and down again. It is only furniture but it’s furniture that fills its innards with substance and fortitude.
Probably the person who spent the most time within its screened walls was Johnny. For 54 summers Marion “Johnny” Johnson sat regally reigning from the corner by the flagpole. To date, some of her special sayings are shared in that very same corner. Betty’s Table became, and still is, an icon of good manners, quietly closing doors, trying new foods and cleaning plates. Counselors who return to camp for a couple years adopt their own table and create their own legacies with the campers who share meals around them.
Betty and Diane raised their newborn children under her eaves. Alex, K and other camp parents over the summers have done the same. Campers have laughed, cried, screamed, and shrieked with delight amidst the pine paneling. The hum of the water cooler adorned with the magically changing poster provides a watering hole for many. Each corner has its own echo, each it’s own feeling. Late night sardines has been played in all the nooks and crannies. Dances and casino halls, specialty restaurants and rainy day games have transformed her façade at times. Snacks, studying for JMG, package surprises, the mail bag, counselors’ coffee and board games have all been part of its personality. On its walls, some over 100 years old, banners and posters, signs and memorabilia hang to be seen by all. It is the epicenter of our daily sustenance, the Mother Ship of our excursions, the source of many good times and tastes.
This week is concert week for the chorus that I am a member of. It means two nights of rehearsal and two performances which equals a lot of singing. I love being part of a group of women that spends time together making music. We are not professional musicians but spend time and effort learning notes, exploring musical nuances and perfecting our performance. For 2 ½ hours a week I become lost in the complexity of music mastery and the production of choral sound.
At camp singing is a large part of our everyday lives. We sing silly songs, rowdy songs, quiet, contemplative melodies and most importantly we sing our Runoia songs. We spend time at Assembly learning songs; some have been sung for generations and others are new to Runoia. Old songs carry our history. Hearing them reminds us of our special place on Great Pond. We find ourselves humming Runoia tunes when we are far from camp and know that many of our alumnae sing them to their own children as lullabies.
Our camp songs have actions, guitar accompaniments, nonsense words, no words, harmonies, different parts or barely a tune. We make songs up to popular tunes, we lip sync, we cry while we sing: sometimes from laughing and sometimes because it is our last time of the season singing together.
At camp it is not the quality or musicality that matters so much although we do channel our inner Diane Smith and try to hit those odd high notes in Tumbledown and It’s Blue and White! It is more that we do something together. We can be heard singing in the Lodge, Dining Hall, around the campfire, in a sail boat or canoe, down the path to the waterfront, out on the hiking trails, for the camp Talent Show and in the vans. Songs are a unique part of our camp culture that we pass along orally and through our song book.
Songs and singing make us happy! Music has the ability to unite us. We may not always sing in perfect harmony but we sing together to celebrate our community, traditions and just because we can! It is part of who we are at Runoia it is our ‘Harmony’.
My name is Morgan and I will be the girl who runs around camp taking pictures, updating our social media sites, blogging about all of your exciting adventures and activities and helping with event planning! You will almost always see me in my bright colored, monogrammed hats.
A little about me: I am from Marietta, Georgia- right outside of Atlanta. I am finishing up my sophomore year at Georgia College and State University with a major in Marketing. I am highly involved on campus and have served a few different positions for my sorority Zeta Tau Alpha. At school I live in a house with thirteen girls and love it! I have two sisters, a twin sister and a twelve year old sister. I love shopping, exploring, traveling, cooking and dancing. I can teach you how to make an awesome friendship bracelet and love making crazy costumes!
Even though this is my very first summer spent at a sleep away camp, I am so excited for camp to start and I hope y’all are as ready for it as I am. I purchased my bright pink duffle bag and I am already shopping and packing for everything I need for camp. While Georgia isn’t exactly across the world, I am still excited to travel 1300 miles to see the beautiful state of Maine that I have heard so much about.
A “Little Life Lesson” from me:
Sing Loud, Sing Proud; dance like nobody is watching; and try everything!
I will openly tell you I am one of the worst singers to ever walk the planet, but that doesn’t stop me from singing. I love to sing even though I am not as talented as Taylor Swift I give it my best shot. Remember this when you are getting ready to sign up for activities each week. Camp Runoia offers many activities from Archery to Windsurfing and everything you can imagine in between. Just because you may not be the best at something does not mean you shouldn’t sign up for that as an activity!
Always remember “the best thing to hold onto in life is each other”- Audrey Hepburn
As the snow finally melts here in Maine and we transition into what is often a short spring there are many new and temporary delights to be found. Around camp where the water is pooling in depressions or a small stream has widened on its way down to Great Pond you can now see vernal pools. While they will likely be long gone by the time the campers arrive for the moment they provide a temporary habitat for the creatures emerging from the winter. Although vernal pools may only contain water for a relatively short period of time, they serve as essential breeding habitat for certain species of Maine wildlife, including salamanders and frogs. The air at night is now loudly filled with the noise of spring peepers and wood frogs that are quickly mating and laying eggs before the pools dry up.
This time of year is energizing and engaging, we see signs that summer will soon be here and still have a quiet moment to enjoy the beautiful environment around us. How fortunate we are that Ms. Weiser and Ms. Pond found the perfect spot for Runoia amidst the tall, shady, pine trees. Much of our property is in a tree farm easement which allows us to keep the natural habitat available for all of our local wildlife.
While individual people’s time at Runoia may be temporary we are grateful to all who have stepped through the gates and left their mark on our camp. The vision of our founders and those that have preserved Runoia as a camp along with all of our girls and counselors breed the memories that will be preserved for a lifetime. The summer of 2015 like a vernal pool or lunar moth will exist for only a short moment in time yet will grow the spirit of Runoia for generations to come.
At the end of this past August, after seven summers of growth and memories, I was less than happy about the idea of leaving. Settling into the alternate universe of laughter and companionship -not to mention the notable absence of parents – only to be torn away and thrust back into the hectic lifestyle of the school year was not ideal. I had spent most of the summer hoping the day would never come. Unfortunately, the day arrived and all at once I was in the car heading down the street which had once led me to my second home, and was now tearing me away from it. Gazing into the rearview mirror at the entrance reminded me of the first time I’d driven down that very street- heading towards the gate, instead of away from it.
Anna Discovering Independence
As a nine year old who had inherited the family heirloom of independence, which had been passed down through generations of women in my family, I had chosen Runoia myself. I was excited. My search for independence was temporarily fulfilled with the thrill of being away from home, and each summer, in an environment that encouraged individuality, I found more ways to become myself. During my second summer as a camper, I was horrified to hear that because of its weakened state, campers were no longer allowed to sit on the branches of the apple tree.
As this was an ancient artifact that I had become especially fond of, a friend and I promptly funneled our disappointment into a farewell poem called Ode to Apple Tree, which we read to the entire camp and still remains in the 2009 log.
The Apple Tree
This incident is only one example of how Runoia transcended its promise of exposing me to new people and skills, and went on to provide me with opportunities to express and improve the parts of me that already existed. Whether or not your child has the same sense of independence I had upon arrival, they will certainly gain more of it throughout their summers away from home.
Camp is a place for growth and while many people remember it as a place of newness -new skills, new friends, new foods- it is important to remember that the camp experience is also about the qualities we already possess.
The deeper benefit of being exposed to camp is that through these new experiences, I was allowed to sharpen and exercise the skills I already had. And so, in August, while I left camp unwillingly, I left empowered.
Anna and her CIT Group (Anna far right)
Anna is a graduate of the Camp Runoia Counselor-in-Training (CIT) program and spent her summers growing up at Camp Runoia.
This has been a summer of strong women. And strong young ladies, too, growing up and into strong Runoia women to be reckoned with.
Strong Runoia women who can cross an ocean and a language barrier to sing absurd songs that wouldn’t make sense even with ten translators. To make friends with girls whom they may never see again but whose lasting impression are faces made into a camera lens or peculiar slang phrases or dance moves learned that will impress people back home.
Strong Runoia women that can chance a return to their camp home, knowing how much they’ve changed in a year or three years or seven years since being here last and still walk bravely through the Runoia gates, on time for their date with fate.
Runoia Co-Founder Jessie Pond
Strong Runoia women who after seemingly endless days of rain and clouds can be with each other and still manage to cast and reflect enough inner sunshine to light up their whole cabin for the… tenth day straight.
Strong Runoia women that can make magic with the most minimal of props – turning a boa into the base of a winning Miss Tacky Runoia costume, a deck of cards into a full-fledged casino, a small garden gnome into a summer’s worth of amusement.
Strong Runoia women that may complain when the shack pix are always in use and seating on the dining hall benches is snug, but can only truly rest easy when all of their cabin-mates are sleeping in rooms beside them, returned from Fairy Ring, Oak Island, Gulf Hagas and the most strenuous of “out-of-camp trip” locations… The Loft.
Strong Runoia women that can turn any moment into song and re-imagine any song for the perfect moment. Bonus points for performing said song costumed and in front of the entire camp.
From Early Years Runoia Teams
Strong Runoia women that can enter the fold and begin to gather Great Pond memories and experiences while sharing their own knowledge of the Great World Outside Runoia (GWOR for short)… Bonus points for making said memories or experiences while costumed and in front of the entire camp.
Strong Runoia women who have seen enough to know all, yet can still accept that a new camp tradition can be begun at any moment because in fact, all of the most special ones we share were once new too.
Strong Runoia women that can carry forth all these very most important traditions while allowing camp to grow and change and flex with the years. Who knew that each strong women that comes through the gates is a new vessel for the continuation of those traditions while also being a catalyst for equally essential change and freshness.
This Log is dedicated to all the strong Runoia women and young women of 2009.. and of course, the men that are strong enough to them here.
Carrie Murphey, one of the new ones
Dedication to the 2009 Camp Runoia Log by Carrie Murphey
Perhaps the greatest adventure of my life was my first trip to the US. I had just finished my second year of college and having spent the previous summer living back at home and working retail full time had I was in search of a different opportunity. Luckily my college was a big early proponent of ‘abroad’ experiences and the being a ‘camp counselor at American summer camp’ was a popular choice for sports science majors.
I have vivid memories of the planning, packing and journey. Remember this was back in the dark ages before the internet so I had little clue what the place looked like and had honestly never heard of Maine! My entire knowledge of American culture had been absorbed from the limited US TV shows on British television. It was likely some combination of ‘Fame’ and ‘Starskey and Hutch’! This was also before the time of the super Walmart and I thought I needed to pack every item I could possibly need for the next 3 months in my human sized backpack it never dawned on me I could shop when I got there!
I was giddy with enthusiasm, met a random girl who was working at the same camp at the airport and headed out into the wide blue yonder.
What a trip it has been! While I have traveled to many countries and had many experiences that trip to the US was truly a life changer.
Now over 20 years later summer camp has become my career, the journey has taken many twists and turns and I have met so many amazing and interesting people along the way. I could never have imagined that I would have ended up living and raising my children in Maine.
Having the courage to take the first step of the journey can lead you to places you never imagined. Be daring and go for it.
This just in! Puppy alert!! Abby B. just brought this little guy into her family:
Gulliver – Enough said!
Here’s a link to Gulliver meeting Jake in the office. Play doggies play!
Loving and playing with dogs is part of many camp directors’ lives. Most camps have a dog at camp. Some hospitals and senior homes have dogs or other pets for healing and calming purposes. Our Runoia pack of dogs do provide therapeutic peace and calm to most people (once you get over the initial doggy enthusiasm).
A Regal Cody at Camp Runoia
Campers like to walk a camp dog in their free time. Others just love to hug our very huggable eight year old black lab, Cody. You’ll find a camper sitting with Katahdin on Abby’s Cottage porch or running up to pet Jake on his afternoon walk in camp. Many of our Runoia alumnae grew up with Coco at camp in the 1970s. Years ago, one camper, got over her fear of dogs by slowly warming up to our old pooch, Lily. She eventually was walking Lily on a leash and petting Lily and looking for Lily in her free time. To this day she says her exposure to the Runoia dogs was a big part of her healing her phobia. So dog-therapy sure does happen, albeit inadvertently, at summer camp.
Alex’s family fosters dogs whenever they can. Alex is wise enough not to foster dogs in the summer when she knows she is too busy at camp to give the dog the time the dog deserves.
Kyleigh and Chris’ two dogs will join us this summer, Juno and Ricky. Can you find Ricky in this picture?
Where is the dog?
Today I read an alumnae connection blog about loving his dog. Read Micheal’s blog here: http://www.woodswalkeronline.com/ As you know, dogs are a huge part of family culture not only in the United States but around the globe.
Adopting or rescuing a dog is a great gift to canine world. Maybe you will consider an adoption or foster care for a dog in the new year? https://www.petfinder.com/animal-shelters-and-rescues/fostering-dogs/best-dog-foster-care/ We encourage you to take the time to figure out if you can fit a dog into your daily/weekly routine, if you can afford the cost of a dog and get your family on board with sharing the responsibility of caring for a dog.
Here’s to enjoying your dog, someone else’s dog, to camp dogs and to helping the dogs around the world have a great start to the new year!
Cotillion is our final evening together. A night of tradition starting with processional singing It’s Blue and White, the teams sitting and facing each other in the Lodge, the awards and ribbons, points awarded and special moments of acknowledging accomplishments. The traditional game of #Hucklebucklebeanstalk to find the final scores of the season, the Bobos and cheers and tears, candle lit paths and the cotillion fireside singing.
