Camp Green Lane Blog Post August 10th

I get to spend each day at the pool watching campers smiling, splashing & playing…ok and maybe an occasional complaint about instructional swim. I have an amazing job & had the best time as the Pool/Aquatics Director for my 2nd full summer here at Camp Green Lane. I am so proud of the kids who are now diving when they swore they couldn’t, the kids who have all improved their strokes and learned new ones, the increased endurance I saw while they swam multiple laps using flip turns to transition. I judged handstand contests and helped make whirlpools. I tried my best to hang during aqua zumba/water aerobics (I can hardly dance on land let alone the water). I have a great lifeguard team that keep the kids safe and allowed them to have fun too. But my favorite thing was getting to watch at free swim when they all swam together, and it didn’t matter what bunk or what age. It’s inclusive. It’s the friendships I saw whether lending a towel, encouragement during a race, playing cards together outside the pool, Taps and tickle trains.

This summer I really saw an example of true friendship… one of the senior boys started camp in a full leg cast (green of course!) and his bunkmates pushed him all over camp, to every single activity, in a wheelchair. Obviously he couldn’t swim so during free swim they’d all sit together on a bench in what I refer to as ‘the splash zone’ right near the diving board. It was nearly 3 hot weeks & when he finally got his cast off they all migrated to the shallow end and sat on the steps in the pool together. It might seem so small but I just loved seeing these boys and how they stuck it out together. It was an ‘all for one’ mentality & that’s what the Camp Green Lane family is all about.

So now my 2nd summer between the arches is sadly coming to a close. I realize how much I will miss and why people return to CGL year after year. I know what it means to live ’10 for 2′ and I am putting off packing up my room because the reality of laundry, school and making lunches can wait a bit longer. I love living in the White House with my roomies/summer sisters. I treasure the friendships I have made with the other upper staff and how it grows stronger each year. I will miss being at one of my favorite places, doing something I love with my 3 girls who get to have this amazing experience too. I look forward to being poolside between the arches for many more summers.

Love, Aunt Rachel