Oh Hi ! Letter from the Camp Director Ian

As we approach the holidays, thoughts of family always come to mind. During November and December, it seems that we take an extra break from the day to day and spend quality time with our families. Usually there will be multiple gatherings at various homes where families get together for elaborate meals and lots of conversation of the year that passed. There always seems to be happy things like new babies born and new marriages during the year which increases the size of the family. You also get to find out the achievements of family members that you may not have heard about during the year. So, it’s a good time to catch up on those kinds of things.

Simply put…IM4CAMP. In fact, that is what is stated on my license plate. I have only missed 2 summers at camp since I was 3 years old! I met my wife at camp and most of my life-long friends are those I spent the summer with at camp. Camp has never been a job for me. It is a passion and a privilege. As I get older it seems like each year passes faster and faster. Back when you were a child in school, the year used to seem like a very long time. I always looked forward to the time when studying and school tests were over, and summer was upon me. I cherished those 8 weeks of summer camp before it was time to start school again. My favorite activities in camp back then were tennis, basketball and softball; yes when I went to camp EVERYONE played softball. When I was in the older groups, we had tournaments in basketball and leagues in softball. That’s where I learned what it was like to win and to lose and how to handle either properly, definitely a good life lesson since life is a series of ups and downs and those sports activities as a child helped me to deal with adult life situations. Those sports also taught me how to work together as a team for a common goal, another skill needed when you get out in the world and become part of an organization.

Back when I grew up in the 1980s and early 90s it seemed like a much more innocent time than today. I think it’s much harder to go through the growing up process for the kids nowadays. So much has changed. Children today have to be able to deal with so much more stuff than we did back in the day. At least camp has remained similar. To me it is still about making friends, learning how to be part of a group and doing a lot of fun activities. For the last 20 years I have worked at camp year-round. I consider myself very lucky that for me camp never ends whatever the time of the year. The best and most special time though is during the summer when everyone is here. Only 7 months until we are all back home #AtTheLake. Stay warm in the meantime and have an enjoyable holiday season.