“Oh the places you’ll go, you’ll be on your way up! You’ll be seeing great sights! You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.” -Dr. Seuss
Friday morning came so faster than any of us expected. We headed off to the Augusta Sailing Club for yet another new adventure with the people we now call some of our greatest friends. We boarded boats, and off we went, sharing laughs and stories as we ventured out onto the water, some of us for the very first time! We returned from our expeditions to join all together for lunch, telling tales of becoming boat captains and traversing new waters.
Back at camp, we jumped into some olympic games, joining our teams in a little friendly competition, but mostly just having fun. These people, strangers to us on Day 1, we now approach without hesitation. With cheers of encouragement, with hugs and high fives, we realize that we are much more than people that all just happened to be at the same place at the same time. We are a camp family. Some of us older members of the family who were here for year 2, and some of us completely new faces on Day 1, but you certainly wouldn’t guess it on Day 5. It’s always so fun to see this development as the week goes on, as we find common threads amongst our groups, forming unbreakable bonds that carry on past one week of camp.
Friday afternoon, we got to return to our camp favorites for a final time this week. Some of us choosing archery, with arrows whipping through the air and piercing the targets, Friday’s archery session looking much different than Monday’s. We definitely have some Robin Hoods and Meridas in our bunch. Others of us returned to lake adventures, hopping into kayaks, swimming, or fishing from the dock just taking in these final moments to engage in activities that were novel to us early in the week, and have now become our favorites. We had a cookout dinner after all the excitement, then had the opportunity to reflect our all of our many camp week adventures as we created photo books to take with us. And as we sat at tables together, sharing stickers and stories, it was so clear to see the growth that has happened here this week. Each of our campers started out as a seed in the ground, sprouting, then branching out into new territory. We became like vines growing up a fence, our stories intertwined with one another, more difficult to separate or distinguish between our successes and our friends as the week went on. We climbed upward and upward, covering ground quickly, growing rapidly together, winding around one another for support, forever bonded in this Camp IVEY family.
We spent Friday evening enjoying our camp traditions. We sang songs and shared ghost stories around the campfire, laughter filled the air even as smoke sometimes filled our eyes. We roasted marshmallows side by side, making s’mores and sharing sticky smiles. Our hearts full of song, our stomachs full of sugar, and our eyes shining by the light of the fire. As the sun set, we held glowing balloons, bright and inspired, just like us. We made our camp wishes, and let our balloons fly, watching them leave, knowing we too would soon be leaving. Back to our homes, back to starting school, flying out away from this camp family, taking with us our memories, our friendships, our songs. And as we listened to the final camp story, we relived our moments we had this week. We are leaving camp with the laughter still ringing in our ears, holding our memories close to our hearts, and ready to take the world by storm!
Another year of camp has come and gone right before our very eyes, and we can hardly believe it! We are overjoyed with the experiences of the week, and so sad to see it come to an end. Parents, thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sharing your very exceptional people with us this week, we have loved every second! All we can say is, hope to see you next summer!!
Camp IVEY 