Alpine's 67th Summer Commences
In the words of a longstanding Alpine song, “even when it rains we play”. Today we played in the rain to celebrate Alpine’s opening of it’s 67th summer of camping high atop Lookout Mountain. Good news is it didn’t rain all day, just in fits and spurts. And never a thunderstorm. So on we soldiered with a bit of rain that didn’t slow us down.
To the parents of Junior Campers, thank you for allowing your boys to be here. As I type this, from my house in the middle of camp, I can hear screams and chants from across the road in the gym, a sure sign of boys having a blast. My name is Glenn Breazeale. My wife, Carter, and I are Directors. As parents ourselves, who sent our girls off to camp, we know it’s not easy. It would be totally normal if you shed a few tears today leaving camp. Then again don’t feel guilty if you shed no tears and danced gleefully out of camp! Enjoy your week. Either way, you have given your son a gift by allowing him to be at camp. We are grateful you have chosen Alpine. Join us in praying that your boys will “grow in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” as the Bible talks about with Jesus in Luke 2:52. That is the longtime mission of Alpine Camp.
After you left today boys accomplished some necessary first day items. All campers received a lice check and quick health chat with our camp doctor. Happy to report we are a bug free and healthy camp. We are appreciative of having Dr. Clayton Dugan with us this week, a pediatrician in Birmingham, and former counselor himself (and now camp parent for the first time). 3 incredibly compassionate camp nurses (and maybe more importantly camp moms!) are here to serve our campers and counselors this week too.
Unofficial cabin photos were made in front of our oak leaf hydrangeas on the lawn of the Dining Hall. Stay tuned for those to be posted tonight as well. Tomorrow Lane Taylor, a professional photgrapher from Chattanooga, will join us to take cabin and individual photos of your boys in their Alpine Sunday whites. You’ll receive those at the end of the week. We fed the boys a snack mid morning as it tends to be a long morning and we know most boys have been up for a while.
Counselors played ice breaker games to get everyone acquainted. Our goal is always that boys would make new friends from other places. That’s one of the best things about camp! I’m still in touch with so many friends that I met in these very cabins in the 80’s and 90’s. Counselors also gave tours of camp.
Lunch beckoned us just in the nick of time. Opening day lunch is a tradition that goes back as far as I know. Gail, and her mother before her, make silver dollar size, buttery biscuits from scratch. Some get put on platters to serve out on each of the 38 tables (we eat family style). Others go into their legendary chicken pot pie, served alongside green peas and corn off the cob. A green salad with sliced tomatoes and ranch dressing also added to the variety. Our new dining hall and the traditions of food and conversation at tables are worth more description. I’ll try to pen a separate blog one night this week about that.
After a brief rest time, followed by afternoon store, the camp bell summoned us to our first activities of the term, 4th and 5th period. I stood in the center of camp to help boys who might need to know where activites meet. Campers bounded, quite literally in some cases, to their classes. You could see the joy on their faces as camp called them out of the classroom and into summer.
Tonight after a fine supper of chicken sandwiches and tater tots, we held our traditional all camp meeting in the gym. Carter and I welcomed the boys to Alpine’s 67th summer of camping. We introduced various key head staff who could help them throughout the week if needed. I stressed the importance of letting us know if something was bothering them, physical or otherwise. And to tell someone if anybody asked them to do something that they knew wasn’t right or keep a secret. No secrets at Alpine! We talked about a few other camp rules and also what it means to be a Christian camp. Principally what it means is that we value the various and intricate ways God made each of us. And we do not pick on or make fun of folks who are different. And of course it also means that they have a chance to learn from older Christian guys, the counselors, through word and deed. The counselors are what make Alpine special!
I look forward to reporting more to you in the upcoming days. For now, thanks for reading and enjoy your Memorial Day weekend, Glenn
