Jack’s going on Vacation

This weekend I am going to attend a reunion at a Summer camp I attended as both camper and a counselor. I am really excited about going back as camp is one of those places that never fails to move me.

It is a combination of the experiences I had there and the actual setting. It helped to provide the foundation for who I am on almost every level. So many things come to mind. Every time I walk the hills I really can hear the past and the present.

When I look at certain spots I remember sneaking away with my girlfriend for a quiet moment. I see intimate moments of joy and pain. I remember falling in love and having my heart broken.

It is where I developed many of my closest friendships. During the offseason I spent many hours hiking around the hills and forest it is located in. Truth be told I used that area as a test for some of my relationships. When I began to get serious with a woman I would take her hiking there and just let the area speak for itself.

If she didn’t tell me how pretty it was or catch the vibe of what a special place it was to me I knew that the relationship was going to be brief.

When I return this weekend it is for the young alumni, ages 25-39. I took a look at an early list of the people who signed up and thus far I am by far one of the older people there. Most of the married people are not attending, or at least they were not. For that matter the list I saw made it look like a large percentage of the attendees are going to be my former campers.

So I suppose that it is a good thing that I am leaving the family at home because it could be kind of boring for them. And this will give me some time to reminisce and exchange stories on my time. It will be kind of nice having some quiet time to reflect. I am looking forward to taking my children to camp to show them around, but I can save that for a different time.

In the meantime it sure appears like I am going to get to play the role of the elder statesman. It should be nice.

While I am gone I will not have any access to the net, the blog will remain as a snapshot of life before the weekend. On Sunday I’ll come home and update it with whatever stories I choose to share.

In the meantime I’ll post away until I leave tomorrow afternoon.