S.T.A.F.F.: Family

The final flag on the wall is the one that I have been looking forward to write about since I started the S.T.A.F.F. mini-series. The final flag is Family, and this blog is probably going to get a little more personal than I normally get but here it goes.

I remember the day I knew that the people around me at camp were my family. It was my first summer and I was on the docks with my kids doing the swimming portion of the decathlon. There was another waterfront specialist who was actually timing. My kids had done fairly well but as were leaving one of them decided they were going to dive into Area 1 of the lake. Well, I thought this was a pretty dumb move on his part and I was getting ready to yell at him myself. But alas I was not fast enough and the other counselor "D-Cup" (that was his nickname) got up and called my kid a retard.

Now, for those of you who know me you know that I'm a calm, rational, never dramatic individual who can normally keep his cool. I BLEW UP!!! I started screaming at D-Cup so loud and so fast that you would have thought I was auditioning to be on the Jerry Springer show. I mean I turned about twenty-seven shades of red and that was on top of my already bronzed tan that I had received from working on the waterfront. Needless to say, D-Cup later got fired for other inappropriate comments to campers. But that day it dawned on me that I actually cared about someone so much that I was literally on the verge of fighting this dude because he was attacking them verbally. My kids had become family to me and I would have defended them to the end.

I would say that in my life I've had two guys who I have really looked up to and admired and wanted to grow up to emulate. The first one was my grandfather who helped my mother raise my brother and I. If you met him you'd understand why he introduces himself as "Shorty" but what he lacks in height he makes up in character. While I would love to write a million blogs about my grandfather, this part of the blog is actually about the second dude.

The other guy is Jeff Malis. I remember my second summer Jeff pulled me aside and said something like, "Keith, you know the ropes. I need you to help Patrick and Tim and let me know what's going on up there." I do not really know why this affected me the way it did but I was honored. Here was someone so respected at camp asking me, someone who barely made it to their second summer, for help.

The reason I look up to Jeff is more than just him pandering to my ego and making me feel more important than I really was. Jeff demonstrates honor, integrity, humor, character, compassion, and discipline everyday. Not having a father around as a child, I found comfort in the fact that I had someone that I never felt uneasy talking with or approaching about anything. Nothing seemed stupid to Jeff and he always made me feel like I was important and what I had to contribute was meaningful. He was also there to give me guidance on things and show me the ropes himself. Whenever I was having a rough day or a moment when I wasn't at my best Jeff was there to help me through it. I hope one day I can do that for someone too because the impact Jeff has had on my life is profound. One can definitely see the effect just in how I've grown as a counselor. So Jeff, if you happen to read this blog I thank you!

But the best part about family is there isn't just one person to help you through things, there is an abundance of support. Which leads me into the Three Amigos. This past summer I had the privilege of working with two of the most amazing guys I've ever met. To say they were my best friends would be the understatement of a lifetime. These guys were brothers. I had worked with each of them my previous summers but this past summer was the first time that all three of us were at camp at the same time and what a team we made.

All three of us had come into camp with some baggage, though I'll admit mine was not nearly as compromising to my time at camp as theirs were. We found out almost immediately that we were inseparable. The three of us would talk about anything and everything. There wasn't anything someone would say to one of us that all of us didn't know. We were a united front. Where Tyler would excel at creativity, I would excel at management and Collin was there to inspire and execute. When one of us got homesick the others would cheer him up. When one of us was having "relationship" issues where they were being treated like a piece of meat the others were there to help reevaluate the situation. When one of us stepped over the line and creeped on another ones girl...I was there to whoop his butt!!!!

Some of my most memorable moments at camp were some crazy antic with one or both of the Amigos. Whether it was Tyler and I's trip around the Lake, Collin and I's $1 bets (that I totally won), or the Amigos doing the wing challenge at Benchwarmers, my summer was the better because the three of us were together. (We did let Landon in the circle once which formed the Brotherhood, but that is a story that shall NEVER be told by ANY OF US!!!!!!!....sorry Holly :-P) At camp we talk about life-long friends and for the first time after this summer I truly understand what that means.

When someone asks me now why I go back to Camp Starlight year after year I say because I miss my family. To me, those seven short weeks are like a family reunion. Sure we laugh and have fun, but just like all families we have those one or twelve mischievous uncles who always want to ruin the party. It's the good and the bad that's what makes it family. The good days you feel like you're on top of the world and the bad ones you realize you really are on top because you have your family there with you.

S.T.A.F.F.: Fun

The fourth flag in the Playhouse is Fun. Fun for me is actually the most difficult to write prose about so I thought (with the inspiration of a crazy Canadian...Thanks Jeff!) that I would take a different approach to this blog. Make it different! Make it FUN!!!

Fun is.....
-driving up camp road blasting Daughtry's "Home" or OAR's "I Feel Home"
-hearing reveille in December
-using all the bottles for the Slip 'N Slide at once so you go REALLY REALLY fast!!!!
-stacking games in the dining hall
-Sing-Along-Songs with Moss
-watching one of your kids beat the CSL "Most Goals Scored in a Hockey Game" record
-trying not to laugh while your kids turn an extra mattress into a Slip 'N Slide
-late night talks on the docks
-ADL meetings :-P
-Trivial Pursuit: Boys vs. Girls Edition
-realizing that 8 year olds can climb the Wall faster than I can
-teaching your kids how to play Euchre
-wearing a giant Adult diaper and pretending it's a costume
-dominating your kids at Risk
-laying around in the bunk on a raining day
-playing Rafter Ball
-setting up the best Mtv Night EVER!!!
-sitting on Malis' porch watching the sunset over the lake
-learning how to play catcher in Baseball
-signing "I Want It That Way" with Bennett...and yes...it's signing!!!
-winning the MVP award for best costume...you know which one I'm talking about...if not...see the picture :-P
-tubing down the Delaware with just the guys
-the Three Amigos
-the Brotherhood
-trying to think of a bunk plaque design that only we understand but then trying to describe it to everyone else and wonder why they don't get it
-clogging up the toilets everyday for a week....not on purpose...sorry Tracey!
-Breakout!!!
-Sing!
-OLYMPICS!!!!!!!!!!!!
-the UPD
-heading to Arts & Crafts to make a gift for someone for no reason
-realizing you are no longer that faster swimmer at the waterfront
-putting on drag and parading in front of the entire camp for the title of Miss Starlight (which I've never won :-( )
-watching one of your kids have the lead in the play even though they never wanted to even be in the play
-trying not to laugh when your kids comes back to the bunk completely covered in mud
-finding out your kids really DO know more than you do
-watching your kids barter their Nite Bites for future Nite Bites
-coming home from your day off to see the 4th of July Fireworks with your kids
-three short neck buzzards
-watching your kids bond together 10 minutes after having a fight
-your kids!

To me, fun is hard to write about because it is an all-encompassing aspect of camp. There isn't anything at camp (with the exception of Heavenly Court) that doesn't represent fun in some way. I think that's one of the reasons people come back year after year. What other job are you going to have as much fun? What other job CAN you have as much fun? Bottom line is that I could have started this blog saying "Camp is..." instead of "Fun is..." because they are the same thing.

S.T.A.F.F.: Adventure

When I think of the third flag in the Starlight Playhouse, Adventure, my mind immediately went to Oz. In my three years, I've only been to Oz once. For those that don't know, Oz is this really, really cool place on camp that has a little waterfall. It's an adventure to go to Oz because to get there you have to cross the bridge that takes you into the woods and then you have go through the woods sometimes making your own path in order to get to your destination. The one time I went was with Tyler and it was a lot of fun. Though we only stayed for a little while because we had a visitor! (That's a later story, maybe)

But then I thought long and hard about what else could be considered Adventurous about camp. DUH! Camp itself is an adventure. I mean think about. You are journeying sometimes thousands of miles to a place that can't be found on a map (though it can be seen on Google Earth) to spend two months with people you don't know, doing something that you have never experienced before. What can be more adventurous than that?!

The best part about the adventure is that it is never the same. Camp is kind of like reading the Narnia series. Every time you enter into Narnia it's a whole new experience with some faces you recognize and some that are brand new. That is exactly how camp is. My first summer, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I show up to be greeted by strangers and find out that they too are on the same adventure that I am not really knowing anyone else either.

My second summer I feared would be boring since I knew the ropes and knew pretty much how things went. I was completely wrong. While I had the same age group of kids, the new kids I had were COMPLETELY different from the ones I had before. And my kids from my third summer were different still. My co-counselors in the bunk were the same way. Different summers, different counselors, different dynamics, different adventure.

Both of my first two summers I spent on the waterfront...WHICH I LOVE!!!! But when I signed on to be an Assistant Division Leader for my third summer I knew I was in for another great adventure. By this time, of course, the friends I had to go on the ADL adventure with me were all just as nervous and excited. The team we formed was indestructible and we were all always there for each other especially when we were having bad days, family issues were making us want to go home or stress was just too overwhelming.

Probably my favorite adventure though was when I got to lead Sing with Laura. If it is possible to pick two people with completely different personalities to lead over 300 people in less than a week, I would love to see it. Laura was always positive and bubbly no matter what time of day or night it was. No matter how bad things looked she was never discouraged. I, on the other hand, was a wreck. If it was possible to worry about it I did. EVERYTHING!!! I had wanted to be a Sing Leader since I found out what Sing Leader was and finally reaching that dream was amazing and terrifying all at the same time. Laura though was my rock. When the mountain looked too high to climb she was there to give me that push that I needed. We eventually got through that adventure together with only minor scars and I will forever be thankful to her.

Camp is without a doubt the greatest adventure I've ever gone on and I'm so excited about the new adventure in store for me this summer!

S.T.A.F.F.: Tradition

First let me apologize for the delay! I realize I dropped the ball in January with only two posts but I'll do better!

The second flag that hangs in the Starlight Playhouse is Tradition. When I first thought about what I was going to write about concerning Tradition my mind starting racing with all of the obvious examples. From the simple things like the first drive up the one-mile camp road, the lice checks once everyone finally arrives at camp, Camp is filled with tradition. Moss opening the Playhouse with "Ladies and Gentlemen!" or David leading "Singing in the Rain" camp music is one of the big traditions of camp. There are also the bigger events such as Olympics and Sing or Burning of the Lake and of course the SHOWS!!! But these traditions are not the traditions I want to write about because anyone can come to camp to experience these events.

I remember one of the first nights of orientation my second summer I was sitting on the softball diamonds after an AMAZING drum circle. There sat this sweet girl Haley from Utah. What struck me as odd about Haley was that somehow she was from Utah but had never seen a firefly. I WAS LIKE WAHT!?!?! So I took Haley down to the lacrosse field and there she saw her first, second, and thirtieth firefly!

Later that night some of the other counselors were back on the softball diamond throwing a frisbee when I mosied on over with my hot choco-choco-lates from the staff lounge. There they were. The Foster Twins. To this day, I still can't tell them apart and god-help me but I usually pronounce their names wrong too! But Kali and Danya will forever be known as Bear and Woodchuck to me. Why? Probably the same reason I'm Caterpillar to them.

There is this tradition at camp that doesn't have a set time. It isn't an evening activity or a week-long event. It just happens. This tradition is the miraculous bond that happens between people from all across the world who are united under the common goal of having a summer that is unlike any had before. I had never spoken to Kali, Danya or Haley before that night but I talk to them all the time now.

One of my favorite traditions that has happened all three years, are my days off. Specifically, having Alex, from Manchester, England, ride along in the car with me singing Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" or Hanson's "Mmbop." This is followed closely by the debate between Alex and I about "car parks," "torches" and how to properly pronounce "Mazda."

There are of course other traditions that happen at camp. My last two summers I would sit on my porch with my kids and just talk. If this could have been an activity period my kids and I would have done it for 6 periods a day and evening activity. The bond that grew just from sitting and talking was stronger than any activity I have done or could possibly think of.

But I think the tradition that I like the least would have to be the one that ends the seven short weeks we are all together. In my adult life I can remember crying for reals just 6 times. Five of those times were at camp and three were on the last days. It is rough knowing that for ten long months we won't be able to see the family that we've made. Lucky for me, I've been back to camp for three summers and my family just gets bigger and better after every one.

Tradition at Camp Starlight is hard to sum up because it is one of the very fibers that make it such a special place. Like I said before, the predictable traditions give camp the structure it needs to foster my favorite tradition: family.

Oh! And how could I forget the making fun of the Canadians!!!!!! EH?!