When I was a child, my town had a Fourth of July celebration every year. The heart of it was the parade - for which I spent hours wrapping my bicycle with red, white and blue crepe paper and streamers - but there was also a series of athletic events. There were potato sack races, three-legged races, egg-on-spoon races, and other silly games. My mother tells me that the town in which she grew up a generation earlier had a virtually identical event. These brought together neighbors and strangers, Democrats and Republicans, people of all ages, and made us all laugh and cheer together. 

 

The same things happen in camp. The children may not have political affiliations, but they come from different schools, different neighborhoods, and different kinds of families. At camp, they learn, play, and laugh together. When they struggle, friends help them. When they struggle with friends, the counselors help them. It is all like a three-legged race, except that everyone wins. We fall together, we get up together, and we cross the finish line together.

 

On Thursday, we will hold the camp carnival, an annual tradition that the oldest campers plan and implement for the younger campers. It's a time for all of us to celebrate old and new friendships, laugh together, and try a new game or two. After the carnival, we'll lower the Camp Montessori flag and then we'll savor every "last..." the last swim in the pool, the last snack, the last Morning Meeting, the last handshake. Then in the dead of winter, we'll daydream of summer and count the days until we're together again.