We’ve played some original games this session. We brought back “Gold Rush”, with some great costumed prospectors, hidden gold nuggets, gamblers, a wandering alchemist, a bank, a stock market and jail where you get to break rocks. Campers loved it and were speaking in southern drawls for the whole evening.
In another game, we pushed the needle to create some unforgettable excitement. We hyped this other game from the morning when staff member Bello swooned in the morning and reported on the scene in the infirmary:
The patients were catatonic, shuffled a lot, and were very HUNGRY!
Most campers figured out it was some sort of zombie all-camp game, but they also were intrigued by how much we were playing it straight, enlisting our nursing team in the subterfuge. During the game, those campers who clustered at the infirmary and were in doubt if they would like it, all ran out to play. Timberlake is a great place to learn how to create and surf that wave of being both nervous and excited about something.
Now, you can’t build the trust needed for community without people being kind to each other. A clear counterbalance to a run-around zombie game is seen in our beading ceremony. The first one had plenty of tears – several authentically chocked up and couldn’t finish. Our second ceremony opened with a younger camper trying his best to verbalize his love for his older brother. That brother sat with his arm around him for the rest of the evening, and another camper came over to hug him for support. Throughout the rest of the beading ceremony, there was a constant flow of comments such as:
You’re really kind. You hold this cabin together.
Remarkably, we had boys publicly lauding their friends for telling everyone to go to bed on time!
This last beading ceremony was the whole camp as older campers have come back from their wilderness trips. Younger campers will go out on Friday. After that, we’ll be focused on finishing up in each rating area, having an incredible banquet, building the Fair Fire with IB, and of course, the Fair itself. All that celebration, creation and camaraderie awaits us.
I believe the secret to unlocking an incredible experience every summer is to live each one with the urgency of it being your last, balanced with the comforting knowledge Timberlake will always be here for us.
Till next time…