Learning to Dance in the Rain…
What started as one of the wettest mornings of the summer, turned into a very reasonable afternoon! We are often asked “What do you do when it rains?” Well, unless it is thunderstorms, we do camp!
The wake-up bell rings a little later on rainy mornings and everyone stays snuggled in their warm sleeping bags just a tag bit longer. The morning bell rings and campers run from their bunks as fast as they can to the dining hall for warmth and breakfast. We have a beautiful stone fireplace in the dining hall. While often people are spread about the deck during meals, on rainy days it is sweet to see everyone sitting together inside, drinking hot cocoa, talking and playing games. We had waffles for breakfast, and I even had some home-made maple syrup (courtesy of the trip that went to a maple sugary in Vermont last rotation)! After breakfast, campers return back to their bunks for bunk clean-up time.
While morning meetings are usually in the Pine Grove, on rainy days we gather in the Meeting House. Normally counselors plan and lead our morning meetings. This morning, however, the whole production was created and performed by a group of campers! They wrote a skit, dressed up in costumes, and taught us the values of uniqueness and acceptance. It was really funny, and it felt great to see those campers take on that responsibility and succeed. We love to see camper led morning meetings!
It has been such a great week full of diverse activities and events and the rainy start to today did not slow us down. While some camps hunker down in bunks or watch movies to pass the time, at WMI, we PLAY ON! Our classes ranged from animal therapy to watercolors, archery to WMI record label.
Windsor Mountain is so fortunate to have incredibly talented staff to teach a wide-range of activities with campers. The wet morning weather was not enough to deter classes. Walking about this morning there were campers hanging out with the animals on the farm. Down at the waterfront, I saw 15 campers laughing and swimming in the rain. The water had never felt warmer, they said! And, we had the sauna fired up for them to enjoy upon leaving the water. Our ropes team enjoys taking the campers climbing indoors – the dining hall stone chimney has enough nooks and crannies to make it a perfect indoor climbing wall. I also saw the Silks Ropes class flying (literally) in the Dance Pavilion. The art studios were buzzing with campers creating – we had clay flying on the wheels, clay monsters being hand crafted, paint working on the Art Deck, sewing machines buzzing, earrings being created in the Stained Glass Lab, bird homes being constructed. Inside “Kerry’s Kitchen,” Benoit’s French Culture class created crepes. My timing was perfect to experience a little French Culture! There was no shortage of opportunities to create – rain or shine! And of course, our music and performing arts classes have no problem finding a warm spot indoors. Our new sound studio is a perfect spot to jam during a rainy morning.
Now the rain has stopped, and I can hear all the usual camp noises from outside my office window again. The gaga pit has filled up with water, and would-be-plumbers are at work draining the pit and preparing for the upcoming gaga tournament. Tomorrow morning is the annual camper v. counselor Gatorball match! The hype for the counselors’ secret weapon (spoiler alert: it was Harley Morris) is through the roof!
While it was a morning full of rain, it was also fully of smiles and laughter. At every turn, I saw campers and counselors fully engaged in the camp experience and entirely undeterred by the cold and rainy weather. We do our best to make every day special at WMI even when the weather does not cooperate. It’s one of the ways we try to model resilience, which I’m sure we can all agree is such a critical life skill, for our campers. The weather was a great opportunity to remind us to persist and enjoy every day – when life gives you lemons…as they say! When Mother Nature gives us rain – we sail, swim, soar, play, paint, climb, perform, sing, dance, laugh, bake, craft, quest. We do camp in the rain and its pretty great!
(Photo Credit Copyright – https://www.123rf.com/profile_benzoix’>benzoix / 123RF Stock Photo)