My Campers

My wife and I just welcomed our son and daughter back from sleep away camp. My children just spent eight weeks at the Reform movement's camp in the Berkshires, Eisner. It is a remarkable place. It is my children's second home. Their return is an adjustment for all of us. In addition to spending days washing clothes and cleaning out trunks we must find our way back to living as a family. It takes a few days to get the locker room out of my son's vocabulary. It takes a few days for him to stop screaming that he is so bored. Every free minute at camp was filled with pick up games with bunkmates. There is only so many hours I can play basketball--both because my son is in better shape than me and I am terrible at basketball. It takes a few days for my daughter to stop crying about how I don't understand her. Only her friends really understand her. "What do you know about clothes! I need my friends!" It takes a few days to remind them that they can't just go walking out of the house without telling us. Our neighborhood is not camp. Despite these readjustments, despite my daughter's cries and my son's screams, I am a happy man. I love how independent my children have become. I love the self confidence camp gives them. I hope and pray they grow to be independent and self assured adults!