“Thank You for Getting My Kids Dirty”

 

I wanted to take a moment to express to all of you my true appreciation and gratitude for the two weeks you just provided my daughters.

 

I have been an elementary teacher and a teacher coach for 24 years. So I am very familiar with the world of leading and raising children. It is a challenging and rewarding field. There are many people who go through the motions of educating, and many of those can even be quite effective, but then there are a few who make “magic.” They have that something extra. It’s hard to put your finger on what it is sometimes – but it always comes down to the community they build with their students. And that is what I see you all doing at Twin Creeks that really sets you all apart from other camps. My girls spent two summers before this at another area sleepaway camp. And it was just fine. But what you are doing at Twin Creeks…is magic. From the way you communicate with us here on the homefront (SO many photos!) to the way you welcome kids and families “home” to camp, to the fun and silly traditions (big fans of carwash in this house), to the moments of heartwarming sentimentality (my younger daughter bawled after Iain’s farewell speech last night, I could see from the photos).  With all of this and more…you have really created something amazing. My girls told me they now know what it feels to be “Campsick.” (missing camp).

 

 

Which brings me to also taking a moment to recognize how important all your staff are in creating this magic. I want to give a shout out to Hayley and Jeff for looking out for our kids, dealing with the big stuff and the little stuff and letting us know that things were well. And we definitely want to give a shout out to the counselors. At their other camp, I had heard some concerns from my kids about their counselors, who they felt like didn’t care if they were homesick, or were spending a lot of time during activities on their phones. But while we listened to the girls tell us a million stories today after picking them up, they both kept coming back to how much they LOVED their counselors, and how their counselors were SO nice. My older daughter shared how safe they made her feel and how responsible they were, and that makes all the difference for her. So – a big shout out to the counselors and CITs, and also a shout out to you all for the training that must be happening behind the scenes to help nurture such a wonderful staff of young people.

 

 

I could go on, but I know you are busy. So I will end my note with this:

 

 

Thank you for getting my kids dirty,

thank you for fostering silliness and joy,

and thank you for showing them how magical camp can be.

 

Sincerely,