Brothers Unite: September 2013

Since 1999 Ray and I have been spending our summers on the shores of Lake Tarleton at Kingswood Camp in Piermont, New Hampshire.

Kingswood, an outdoor sports camp for boys, played a valuable role for us as children-- the camp allowed us to escape urban life and discover nature. The Kingswood Camp philosophy involves taking boys out of their comfort zones and challenging them to live independently in a new community in an unfamiliar place. As kids, our years hiking and fishing at Kingswood helped us develop the love for nature that we still cherish today.

The years haven't been so kind to Old Man Ray.

Sometimes when we tell people that we're heading to camp for the summer they ask us if we are campers. Sort of a funny question, since we're in our twenties. Ray and I are now on staff at Kingswood, working as counselors to boys ages 8-15, and mentors to the younger staff. Camp counseling is certainly difficult. If you don't bring energy to everything you do the activities fail and the kids leave disappointed. Ray and I talk a lot while at Kingswood about what we can do to be better counselors. But at a place as fun as Kingswood, it isn't hard to have a lot of energy. It's also easy to forget that we're at work. Besides, we're still campers at heart.

Coach Ray gives his team an ear full.

Captain Dave gives Taylor a head full.

Ray and I spend our summers playing sports, planning skits, teaching music, hiking and fishing. We stay active, we entertain, we laugh, we teach. We talk about counselor theory, about boys who miss home or who act out or who simply aren't taking full advantage of their surroundings. Mostly, we spend our summers in an environment that encourages us to be ourselves, our personalities magnified by the excitement of our kids.

This is Kingswood 2013, a summer fifteen years in the making.

This is our office

Where days like this

Turn into nights like this

Where we share stories

About times like this

And guys like that

About how the first cast

The last

And the one that got away

Aren't as important as the memories

Because it's not just about the view

But the people you share it with

And the legends you create

Some people say we're too old for camp.

We're not so sure.

This summer, as with last summer and almost every summer before that, Dave and I made it up to Cape Cod to spend a long weekend with 40 odd people we're all somehow related to. This year's reunion was just as much a success as always...I'll let the pictures speak for the details!