Cool in the Mountains

The only positive about a rainstorm on Lookout Mountain on Opening Day is that it cools everything off.  The temperature this evening is so pleasant it almost feels like fall.  Thanks for your patience this morning on a soggy drop off.  The good news is that the rain cleared midday and we’ve only had a few sprinkles since then.  It remained cloudy and cool for our afternoon plans.

I work the front of the store each opening day afternoon, passing out knitwear forms to each boy.  I do this because it gives me a chance to see each camper face to face on the first day, greeting returners and meeting the new boys.  I can tell you that there are some excited boys here.  I also get to witness our counselors at work.  Many played games with the cabin while waiting.  Others gathered the entire cabin around and asked a series of questions for each boy to answer, little icebreakers.

My name is Glenn Breazeale.  My wife Carter and I direct camp. We hope to bring you little updates every few days, little glimpses into camp life from the director’s perspective. And from a parent’s perspective too.  We have twin girls, Caroline and Gigi, who are 9.  They have just returned from camp, 25 days at one of their favorite places on earth.

Carter grew up at Alpine, as her parents Dick and Alice O’Ferrall owned and directed camp.  Most probably know, but Dick, Mr. O as he’s known at camp, started Alpine in 1959.  He’s been here every summer since.  That’s 55 summers.  He still remembers most everyone who’s driven through these gates.  Alice will be quick to tell you she has not been here every summer.  They married several years later.

Carter camped and counseled at Camp Desoto, eventually carrying several different leadership positions in her latter college summers there.  I grew up in Jackson, MS and camped at Alpine for 6 summers.  In fact, my father camped at Alpine during some of the earliest summers.  His mother, my grandmother, was one of Dick’s first camp “representatives” hosting slide shows (with real slides back then) in the cozy south Mississippi town of McComb, MS.  When I was a kid, my mother and a few other ladies would host Dick every year in Jackson, MS.

We did take care of quite a few necessities today, like the swim check and activity signup.  But what was really happening today was counselors spending time bringing cabins together, through games and conversations.  They are the foundation of camp.  In fact, the counselors really are camp for these boys each summer.  I look forward to telling you more about them throughout the term.

We also held a meeting this afternoon with the entire camp.  Carter and I welcomed the boys and talked briefly about our mission for this term - “that they may increase in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” (paraphrased from Luke 2:52).  We told them that what this means is that Alpine is a safe place for them to grow up, to make friends, and not to worry about impressing others.  And that we are privileged to get to learn more about our Lord and Savior.

We talked about living in a community and that we will all mess up or upset someone, and our need to ask for forgiveness.  And that Alpine is a place where bullies are not tolerated.  We also introduced them to our nurses and our head staff.  I like for each boy to hear the message from Carter and me that we want to know if they are having a problem - physical or emotional.  That we want to know if someone says or does anything that makes them uncomfortable.  And that it’s OK to be a little homesick, that’s normal.  We find that all of this puts boys at ease, especially new campers.

So many of you love to know what we are eating (a big deal at camp!).  We’ll try to give you a sample of certain meals.  Tonight we enjoyed spaghetti with homemade meat sauce, green salad with tomatoes, and toast.  Uncrustable peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are also offered to boys who might not want to eat what is served.  We do packaged uncrustables to keep the sandwich very contained out of caution for our peanut allergies.

Tomorrow we’ll kick off a full day of activities.  It will be so great to get your boys into the routine of camp.  We are grateful for you sharing them with us.

Thanks for reading and good night for now,

Glenn