Good Bye Campers

Saturday was a morning of tearful good byes among friends and happy reunions with families.  It was the end of the final camp session.  Trunks stuffed-to-bursting with dirty laundry and wet towels…(I mean, who packs neatly to go home?!) everyone piled their luggage at the back porch of the Main House to await their parents' arrival.

These last  two weeks of August were wonderfully hot and sunny which kept the lake temperatures perfect for early bird swims, lots of "open waterfront" and of course, swim practise.  Yeah!  We enjoyed a "cracker" of a thunderstorm Monday night, the kind that thunders throughout the bay and rattles the windows and walls of the Main House.  When the power suddenly went off during the Lip-Sync skits, dozens of flashlights and headlamps held by the audience clicked on to illuminate the "stage" and the show carried on!  It was a great night and will be one of my favourite memories of camp.

It is always a little sad to see our camp friends leave for the season.  It is never more apparent than in the stillness of the bay and the quiet of the Main House once everyone is gone.  The Main House seems to "sleep", its soul or personality hollow without the girls' lively laughter and chatter that brought it to life for the summer.

 Sunday morning Dianne and I enjoyed a quiet coffee together on the dock.  It was the first morning without the Early Bird bell and no one stirred on camp.  The new found calm at the waterfront had attracted a solitary loon near the 50 yard pool and its soulful call echoed throughout the bay.  Was she, too, lamenting the departure of her "mermaid" friends??…"Where did they all go?…Will they be back?"…

Thank you, Girls of Ak-O-Mak, for the summer-time memories you have given us, Dianne and Catherine.  Thank you for inspiring us with your determination and for making us laugh with your never-ending antics!

 It is in your joy that we find our purpose and see that Buck and Rosemary's legacy, indeed, continues.