“Look around! Look around! At how lucky we are to be alive right now.”
— The Schuyler Sisters
We are three months closer to the start of a new camp session, and camp itself is fully swathed in the colors of Fall. November is upon us, and we are busy thinking about Thanksgiving break, Thanksgiving football games, and Thanksgiving food. During the month of November, you may be asked, “What are you grateful for?” Typical answers include family, friends, and good health (aka The Big Three) but we shouldn’t discount the smaller moments sprinkled throughout our day when it’s time for us to give thanks.
The thing about gratitude is that it sneaks up on you. It’s not something you search for. Rather than seeking it out, you simply FEEL it. On a sunny Friday afternoon, attending your favorite team’s playoff game, snuggling with your dog on the sofa — gratitude makes your senses tingle and sometimes takes your breath away. When you’re at camp, gratitude is everywhere. No need to look for it; it will find you.
Gratitude surprises you during Frontier Week breakout, while you are running toward the bonfire on the Upper Field. It appears on the Ropes course, as you reach the top of the rock wall for the very first time. It catches you in the Dining Hall, when Dave announces that it’s a Canteen Day. It materializes in the HBC, as you cheer on your friends to a decisive Intercamp victory. Gratitude isn’t always big and flashy and earth-shattering. Sometimes, it’s brief and quiet and yet still manages to rock your world.
Gratitude is found in the moments when you’re laughing with your bunkmates before bedtime. It pops out and yells “Peek-a-Boo!” when you are careening down a waterslide at Costas. Gratitude is there when you see the bus parked on the Lower Field and you know you’re about to visit with your sister at TimberTops. Whether you’ve just caught a fish in the lake, performed in Scotty’s show, or received a letter from home, gratitude slides in and fills your heart with warmth.
It is often said (mostly by wise parents of lucky campers) that camp IS the gift. How true this has proven to be. The opportunity to spend time away from home and live with your friends is undeniably a gift. To spend your mornings on the fields and courts, your afternoons in the pool and the lake, and your evenings by the campfire, is a privilege.
Gratitude can strike anytime, anywhere. You may find yourself on the Junior Gathering Deck, playing a game of Magic with your bunkmates or challenging Freedo to a game of Ping-Pong. You look around at the scene and feel a sense of clarity. There’s simply no place you’d rather be at this moment. You are lucky. You are grateful.
Gratitude sneaks up on you as you’re marching arm-in-arm with your teammates to the Olympics Closing Ceremony on the Lower Field, U2’s “Walk On” blasting from the speakers. You feel part of something special, something bigger than you. Many campers have come before you and many will come after you. And your name will forever be etched into the Owego Brotherhood.
Lucky you.
