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Welcome Home
Monday, January 23rd, 2012
As we travel thousands of miles on the Camp Lincoln – Camp Lake Hubert Movie and Reunion Tour, it starts. Sure as the sunrise, it creeps up on all of us. Like the saying goes, ‘…it’s an itch that just can’t be scratched…’
Perhaps you have caught yourself humming a camp song, daydreaming about windy days on the sailboat, reminiscing about whispers under a Minnesota moon or the serenade of the loons.
Maybe you’re literally counting the days until you come through the front gate? Maybe you’re flipping through old photo albums, remembering the days before you last left?
Regardless of the amount of time since you’ve last wandered the shores of Lake Hubert, it is easy to slip back into the moment. The birch bark nametag, Pop and Candy, final campfire…
A camp experience is unlike any other. It is so individual, yet with a common thread understood only by those that have lived it.
Have you ever caught yourself explaining something to someone and stopping short with, ‘It’s a camp thing, you probably wouldn’t understand.’ Or, as one staff member commented with a smile, ‘My family knows when I head out in June that I’ll check in at some point from Planet Camp.’
Truly, it’s that powerful. The friendships that are built here are unrivaled. Camp brings us all together with nothing but a green stand and our character. It’s a level playing field. People from all walks of life come together to create a community.
Every year, we both see and hear about mini-reunions – camp alumni gatherings all over the globe. And these aren’t organized by CL – CLH…these are driven by the relationships formed under the banner of camp. Amazing.
There have been dozens of marriages – camp brings together people with similar values and passions. And it is passed on from one generation to the next. Five generations of campers over 100 years.
Recently, there was a posting on the camp Facebook wall of a YouTube video featuring a (now famous) father and daughter singing the song ‘Home’. The person commented that they shared it because it reminded them of the final campfire at camp. While some of the lyrics aren’t ‘camp’, for the most part, they ring true.
A few of the stanzas:
Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my ma and pa
not the way I do love you
Well, holy moly, me-oh-my, you’re the apple of my eye
Girl, I never loved one like you
Laugh until we think we’ll die, barefoot on a summer night
Never could be sweeter than with you
And in the streets we’re runnin’ free like it’s only you and me
Jeez, you’re somethin’ to see
Home, let me come home
Home is wherever I’m with you
Oh home, let me come home
Home is whenever I’m with you.
Camp is home for so many of us. Not in a physical sense: The global gatherings, the 5th generation campers, the marriages, the social media connections reuniting friends, it is all reflected so clearly in the lyrics: ‘Home is whenever I’m with you. Home is wherever I’m with you.’
Wherever you are this January, take a few minutes and close your eyes. Remember it. And hear the message loud and clear:
Welcome Home.
The Gitchells
01/24/20129:05 AM
Counting the days!
Marta (Skluzacek) Drew
01/24/20129:22 AM
I am LOVING these blog posts. To be honest, a big part of why I don’t give up my embarrassing addiction to Facebook (I mean, I’m THIRTY-NINE…sigh) is because I HAVE to have the updates about what camp looks like with snow, when the docks go in, when each session starts, etc.
It IS a cult, an otherworldly cult, a miraculous place where I consistently find and reclaim my highest and best self. Camp is one of my values and I will never ever leave it.
This is beautiful. Perfect. “Home is whenever I’m with you…home is whenever I’m with you.”
YES.
Marv Strong
01/24/20129:28 AM
Very nice!..What a great lake.
Ian New
01/24/20129:30 AM
Every time I hear that song, I think of camp and all the amazing times and memories I have while I was there. I also think of singing it in front of the entire camp with the LTs at an all camp campfire. The feeling I get when I think of camp is incredible and has never been matched.
CFAB
Brad
01/24/201210:04 AM
This is fantastic. I especially like the line: “A camp experience is unlike any other. It is so individual, yet with a common thread understood only by those that have lived it.”
The Personal Growth and Development at camp is entirely an individual experience that is unique to each camper and staff member, but at the same time, it is an experience that is shared with everyone as the entire community supports your growth and encourages your development.
In a week or two at home, you go about your daily life and only now and then come across an event that truly develops you as a person, but this development happens every day at camp. There’s truly no place on earth besides at camp where your life can change so dramatically in the matter of a few weeks.
Fletch Justice
01/24/20123:46 PM
Yes.
Jeanne Luther
01/31/20124:07 PM
LOVE the old camp songs …. How ’bout the state songs. I can attend most Big 10 or 12 games and join the home team…
Booma sooner…OK U!
There is no place like Nebraska….
Oh, and by the way…my last year as a counselor was 1973!
But my heart returns often!