Summer Camp Perpspective


Our nine-year-old daughter, Danit, went off to overnight camp almost a month ago. At nine years of age to leave her parents, her home and her own bedroom is a bit of an adventure. It is not truly daunting for she has seen her three older brothers go off to the same camp all of her life. She has escorted us up to Camp Ramah in north Georgia as we have transported her brothers there, and she has attended four-day Family Camp sessions with various combinations of her parents and brothers. So the camp was not entirely unfamiliar but being by herself, without her parents and with fifteen new roommates and four new counselors is entirely unfamiliar.
 
            So off she went with two enormous duffle bags, water bottles, sun screen and a couple of hats in tow to explore an entirely new reality. 
 
            While speaking with my mother the other day, my mom laughed as she read a very short letter she had received. Dear Bubbe (grandma), Camp is great! I’ve got poison ivy. Love, Danit.
 
            My mother and I chuckled over that. Most of us would not think the summer experience was great if we had poison ivy. Most of us would probably rue the poison ivy and, perhaps, even the place and the programming. But a nine-year-old, who stepped foot into a brand new life experience, chose to see the positive in meeting new people, hiking new terrain, learning new songs, enjoying new activities and celebrating a modicum of increased independence. Being a Jewish camp, spoken Hebrew, Jewish prayers, Israeli dance are as much a part of the program as hiking, sports, art, swimming, boating and campfires. Her willingness to appreciate all the growth and all the achievement outweighed the poison ivy, which became merely one of a thousand components of adventure to be appreciated.
 
            We could all choose to follow Danit’s example. Admittedly the itching and the scratching are a nuisance and an irritation. Shall we truly allow a nuisance to color our perspective of a new experience? Or shall we appreciate any new opportunity to meet people to grow and to achieve? May all your new days be an adventure worth enjoying in spite of any poison ivy which you may contract. May every day be a new adventure for all of us!