Eleven Months To Dream

There’s a camp song we sing on the last night of the term that says, “I’ve got eleven months to dream about next year”. Today those eleven months ended and next year is here! Carter and I heard so many comments today like, “he couldn’t sleep last night” or “he’s been talking about this day every day for months”. We feel the same way! It’s like Christmas morning for us. My name is Glenn Breazeale, by the way. My wife, Carter, and I are the directors of camp. It was wonderful to see so many old friends today as well as meet some of you who are here for the first time. We are grateful you have chosen to give your son the gift of Alpine this summer.

We also heard lots of “he’s excited but also pretty nervous” or “he’s not so sure about camp this year”. Let me assure you, if your camper was one of those, it is perfectly normal. Today after lunch we addressed those nerves head on. Carter and I welcomed all of camp to Alpine’s 68th summer of camping in Mentone. And I reminded all of us that it is very common to be nervous and even miss home a bit during the first few days of camp. It’s helpful for all of us to know we are not alone when we have those feelings. And we talked about a great way to help us feel better - talk with someone else about your feelings - especially a cabin counselor.

We made some introductions of key staff members, covered some important guidelines for living in community together, and talked about what it means to live in close quarters with friends. Namely that as Christians we are all created in God’s image, though all given different gifts and interests. I reminded them that as we grow as Christian young men, we become more secure in who we are, therefore we don’t need to tear others down to get a laugh or make ourselves feel better. We speak words of kindness and encouragement. Now of course I’ve been doing this long enough not to be naive. We are all imperfect, every one of us. And living in a cabin together with 8 or 10 or 12 guys for a month will show you that real fast! But the struggles and disagreements and frustrations are when the growth happens, especially when guided by cool, Christian college guys. Our girls are 20 now but we always found they could hear a lesson from a trusted mentor that we had told them many times - and repeat it back to us as if we had never told them! Other voices in our kids’ lives are so important. We have 72 cabin counselors who are really excited about speaking into your campers’ lives. They are not perfect either, of course. But we think they are pretty fun and impressive guys. In another post I’d love to tell you more about the extensive staff training they received during the last 2 weeks in May.

But back to today. This morning before lunch we checked off a few necessary boxes like unpacking, tours of camp, lice and health checks. Each cabin also took a cabin photo in front of our iconic oak leaf hydrangeas on the front lawn of the Dining Hall. Those will be posted tomorrow along with many other opening day shots. We look forward to sharing photos each day during the term except for Sundays, to give our photographers and editors the day with family. A word about our camp photos: our goal is to give you a glimpse into each day at camp. A window into our world that tells a bit of the story of each day. The goal is not necessarily to capture every camper every day. We really want boys to feel unplugged while here and that includes not feeling like there are cameras in their face all day every day.

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.

The rain held off for the afternoon as we enjoyed a treat at the Store after a brief Rest Hour in cabins. The balance of the afternoon was spent playing various games as age groups as well as dividing into tribes and signing up for activities. I’ll look forward to giving you more of a glimpse into specific activities as the term rolls on. Tomorrow we will jump straight in to our regular schedule, beginning with the first 5 activities in the rotation. We like to get boys into a routine as quickly as possible!

Just before supper a heavy rain set in, though no storms or winds. Chicken sandwiches with all the fixin’s and tater tots rewarded us after a rainy walk to the Dining Hall.

As I conclude this entry, all of our campers are back in cabins after a few indoor games tonight. All is well at Alpine.

Thanks for reading and good night for now, Glenn