You've been here how long, EC?

Hello readers!

So, it's Wednesday afternoon in the second week of Camp Ballibay's 1st session. This means that two-week campers in the Farm Arts, Rock Farm, and Endless Mountains Dance Camp just have a few days left here, and those in the three-week Ballibay program are halfway through their first session experience. I catch myself saying this every summer, but I just can't believe how fast everything is moving here.

Matt E., relaxing in the art barn

Chelsea R. and Arielle S. at Jam Night

Yesterday at my meal table, Siri D. asked me a question about camp that I was able to answer using an old story from when I was a camper here. "Wait, EC, you were a camper at Ballibay?" Siri asked. "How long have you been here?" I told Siri that with my six years as a camper and my four years as a staff member here, this was my tenth year at Ballibay. Siri jumped back in her seat and said, "I can't believe that you've been here so many years! You must really love it here. What's your favorite part of camp that keeps you coming back?"

How could I possibly answer that question?!

The list of reasons I come back here is innumerable. I had no idea where to even begin. How about the anxious, elated feeling I used to get as a camper when my mom would drive me to O'Hare Airport for my flight to camp each summer? How about the feeling of seeing the first counselor or camper I knew after not seeing them for a whole year? Or maybe it was the hours of rehearsing for musicals and plays with a cast of campers who felt like my family? Maybe the moment before my first play at Ballibay in the summer of 2000, when I stood backstage with the most intense combination of nerves and excitement I'd ever felt in my life? Or the learning process I went through when I became a counselor-in-training during my last summer as a camper? How about the first time I came to Ballibay as a counselor and learned all about the combination of hard work and reward that goes into every day of this job? Maybe it's all those moments when I'm just sitting with my campers at rehearsal, or on the hillside, or in the cabin and they spontaneously thank me for being their friend and teaching them?

I looked back at Siri and said, "You. You and Lulu, and Toni, Drew, Matt...everyone here in this dining hall. Ballibay campers are the reason I come back." And it's true. Kids at Ballibay are unlike kids anywhere else, at other summer camps or programs. They are so much fun to be around, so smart and engaged, so funny, talented and driven to accomplish the goals they set for themselves. In a nutshell: they're wonderful.

But I'm sure I don't have to tell all you readers that -- you already know!

More soon,
Elizabeth C., Ballibay Blogger