The Stories that Stay with You

I’m struggling to put into words exactly how this wondrous place makes me feel at this point in 2022, so I’ve borrowed a quote from an author I’ve never met, who I will always perceive as an old friend. It reads as follows.

“It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something. Even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now.

Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back only they didn’t. Because they were holding on to something.”

“What are we holding on to, Sam?”

“That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.”

The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

Every time I look around, whether it be during morning Mentor Hikes, Afternoon Activities, Freetime or Evening Program, the overwhelming sense of thankfulness sweeps over me and into my soul. Here is a place for everyone, a place worth fighting for and a place that deserves to have its story told.

For each of our staff, it’s all or nothing, every moment, all the time. There is a purity in only desiring to create joy in a safe haven for children that goes far beyond the brunt of the work, and into the realm of making a more wholesome, more connected community. While everything outside of these 3,400+ acres continues on, we are here to revel in the beautiful moments we discover. The adventures had here are real. We’re here to live our best lives and be our best selves. Each new day brings literally endless opportunities to experience the exultation of simply being alive. It’s no wonder that “Seek the joy of being alive” is such a commonly used phrase when referencing GRP. That is what we do here. That is what we strive for, in everything we do. The good in the world that Samwise speaks of in the quote above is embodied in Green River Preserve and once you’ve fully experienced what it is to live and play in the outdoors in this little niche of the Blue Ridge Mountains, you know that the stories here stay with you and they will always be stories that really mattered.

Story by Brandon S. Marshall with photos by Samantha Keebler & Brandon S. Marshall