Hello again everyone. I write to you with some news from the first couple days of our Second Session at Flying Cloud.
We had our Closing Friendship Fire on Thursday. This is an evening ceremony space where everyone gets a chance to speak to the entire group about what they love most about Flying Cloud. It’s a pretty beautiful experience and the best way I can share that with you is to let you know some of what I heard:
“This is a place where people will not judge you, people will love you.”
“Flying Cloud will always be a part of us – it is an inescapable truth.”
“Probably the most amazing place I’ve ever been.”
“Flying Cloud nurtured me as a person.”
“There will never be enough Flying Cloud.”
“In leaving Flying Cloud, I leave prepared for the world ahead.”
“Flying Cloud is not my second home, but rather, my true first home.”
“This place is so special because I get to be here with all of you.”
“Flying Cloud taught me to see the good in myself.”
“Flying Cloud gives me space to think about my life each year. Without that space I’d feel as though I’m running through life blind.”
“Flying Cloud affords me the opportunity to choose how I live – The choice to shine.”
“The rest of the year, Remembering things from Flying Cloud always makes me happy.”
“I keep coming back to Flying Cloud because this is where I developed my values as a person.”
“Who needs contraband, this place is as sweet as it gets.”
It was a truly beautiful night, and this is only a sampling of the grand total of what was said. Hearing these young men speak about how this place has impacted them after only a few weeks is always so powerful.
Next, on Friday morning we said goodbye to our First-Session campers and throughout the rest of the day we held a visiting day for our Full-Season camper families. After saying goodbye to parents, we invited Saltash Mountain Camp over for a pizza party and games, which was, of course, a total blast.
The next day, known as Changeover Day, was a time to celebrate being at Flying Cloud for the whole summer. We started off with chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. There was enough for us all to eat to our heart’s content. Once we had digested a bit we hiked over to Lake Ninevah where we went canoeing. We brought a bunch of fishing rods and had some great success (although we released all of the fish we caught). Next, we spent the afternoon at Spruce Point on Lake Ninevah where we actually made some fried fish sandwiches and just had a great time as a small FC group. We hiked back to FC for dinner and then spent the night around a fire as our staff member, named Night, entranced us all with his story telling. That was until we broke out the S’mores fixings! The weather was beautiful and we were able to sleep out in the clearing as a complete community.
It was a short lived time with the smaller Full-Season group. On Sunday, we welcomed in 30 new campers for this session. Some of them have been to Flying Cloud before and some are totally new. There’s already been a lot of learning and a whole ton of making friends and building community. On the very first night we held the Opening Friendship Fire of Second Session. At this ceremony, we asked everyone to answer two questions: What will you bring to Flying Cloud? And what do you want to take away from Flying Cloud?
Here is a small sample of what people said they wanted to bring to Flying Cloud:
“A sense of humor”
“Empathy”
“Joy”
“Happiness”
“Sense of compassion”
“Cultural diversity”
“Simplicity”
“Passion”
“Connection to the natural world”
And here are some responses to the question of what would they would take away:
“Everything I can learn here”
“Happiness and joy”
“New friends”
“Maturity”
“Sense of hard work”
“Knowing how to get things done when there doesn’t seem to be a way”
“Ability to live in the present”
“Persistence”
“Clarity of purpose”
“Health and clarity of mind, body, and spirit”
This is just a sampling, but I hope you can appreciate some of the excitement that I have for this session after hearing all these young men speak. We’ve got so many adventures ahead of us that I’m eager to share with you. Before I can write again though I’ll have to get back to the forest!
Be well and much love,
~FF~