Silver Linings
It’s hard to believe that summer is firmly behind us and GRP hosted no camps or campers for 2020. All of you were genuinely missed and camp felt very lonely without you. Can you believe we are in October now?
Balancing the new way of school and juggling work while keeping the home front as normal as possible are concerns associated with one of the most difficult phases our country has faced in decades. It is hard. And compounded with that hardness is uncertainty. How is this all going to unfold? Will our kids go back to in-person learning in January? Can we hop on an airplane in the near future and not fear sickness for ourselves or loved ones? These are hard questions with uncertain answers and no definitive timeline.
It is challenging not to feel overwhelmed and exhausted pretty much all the time. I think these feelings actually have a name - COVID fatigue. At camp we focus on all the components of wellness- mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. We believe self care is group care. Our staff are taught to tag out when they need it, ask for help when they are struggling, and take care of themselves so they can take care of their campers. As a leader of the GRP community, I do my best to model that behavior.
Like many of you, I found myself in unknown territory this summer. What I thought was happening- CAMP- did not and instead we had to adjust. As I reflected on what did happen this summer, I wanted to share our family’s silver lining. What we have come to call “our gifted summer”- our first ever unstructured summer experience with our children.
Prior to having kids, boating was one of our biggest passions. I grew up canoeing at camp and still remember the first whitewater trip I took on the French Broad River. Stephen learned to kayak in high school and quickly felt the similar freeing experience that draws him to alpine skiing each winter. When we first started dating in Colorado, we spent many after work evenings running the town stretch of the Animas River. When we moved to Moscow, Idaho, we pushed ourselves to boat nearly every weekend in preparation for our big adventure through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. Freezing cold western rivers and the thrill of nailing a rapid just right drove us. We loved it!
A few years ago, Stephen and I purchased a raft. We bought it for “one day” in hopes that we would introduce our children to boating and share a love of river trips. For three years, it has lived in our attic loft with the wrapping on it. That all changed this past summer.
Followed by the decision to not run camp, we made a personal decision as a family to stay in our off-season home located in Silverton, Colorado. Cross-country travel between Colorado and North Carolina with three children and two dogs in normal situations is an adventure, to say the least. Navigating the journey during the pandemic would have been insanity. We love North Carolina, we also love our home here and saw this decision as an opportunity to share a western summer with our children, to do something different. That something different turned into family exploration of western rivers.
I feel extremely blessed to live in not one but two places that have trails right outside my door. I know that is unique and I am incredibly grateful. That being said, there were many times this summer where we felt “cramped” as a family in our home and town and needed a change of scenery and routine. So…..we pulled out the raft, took off the wrapping, found our old river gear, and ventured out into new territory for us as a family. It was AMAZING (most of the time).
We found the “sweet spot” with our river trips was on day 2- much like the GRP campout experience. Everyone has adjusted and is getting into the groove, and the outside distractions that often pull us away from quality time are distant. We logged 21 nights in total this summer on the riverbanks. On our adventures we saw moose, fished (and tangled tons of line), hiked to petroglyphs and ancient ruins. Our kids cooked, we scouted and successfully ran our first class 3 rapid as a family, swam a ton, and got plenty of sunburn. It was magical in that the experiences we were creating were the closest things we could get to camp. For us, that feeling was really important because one thing that was evident throughout the summer was that we all deeply missed camp.
As parents of a camper, we can speak from experience of the wonderful attributes our child gains while at camp. Learning to be helpful, being kind with siblings, and taking direction without prompts are just a few of the behavior changes we observe once he is home. Having our child in a place where RESPECT is given, received, and valued by peers and mentors is a treasure.
As wonderful and magical as our summer was, both Stephen and I agree that being at camp and being with our camp community is what we all need now, more than ever. That unstructured freedom and play time amongst supportive peers and mentors is unmatched. I sincerely hope that the schedule we have laid out for 2021 will indeed be our final schedule. I know though that if we have to adapt programming to keep our camp community healthy, we can and we will. Our team has worked out many alternative scenarios based on possible government restrictions and regulations. Camp, in some form or fashion, will happen next summer. As a parent, I know that is what my children need.
Yours in Camping, Anne
