August 2 2025

The mission of Greystone in 1920 was brief and easy to remember: For the glory of God and we have added only four words since that time: To delight and inspire, for the glory of God. A mission statement is essential for the clarity it brings to all stakeholders (directors, staff, parents, and campers). Our mission statement informs every aspect of our preparation and experience each summer. It is what assures that each summer will be “our best”.

With this in mind, we awoke with delight to the prospect of a rainy day. Morning rain typically means it will be rainy all day long, and that rarely happens (except our famous rainy summer of 2005 when it rained every day of Main Camp). Since it is rare, it is appreciated in a particular way. We delight in our raincoats, rain boots, and sweatshirts. We assume two dispositions depending on the class: adventurous or cozy. Adventurous activities would include land sports, tennis, swimming, and water park. Cozy would include arts and crafts, drama, cards, board games, reading, and knitting. My mind goes back to a summer at Falling Creek when I was an awkward 8-year-old camper who did not want to swim. It was a rainy day, and classes were meeting as usual (just like Greystone, we consider rain just another day unless it is stormy). I did not want to swim in the lake due to the cool temperature, but they made me do it… and I LOVED it! The water was warm, the rain made a glorious sound on the surface of the lake, and it smelled amazing. I remember that astonishment to this day and told the girls about it at Breakfast Club this morning. I hope they will remember this day when they are 62!

Thank you for being such faithful readers of the Blog this week. We appreciate your interest and encouragement. At the same time, we want you to know that it is OK to take the weekend off! Analytics consistently show significantly fewer visits to the Blog on the weekend, and this makes complete sense. Many of you sense the need to step away from the routine. This year, to encourage the entire camp community (campers and counselors alike), we will not be posting photos or printing emails on Sundays. Honoring the Sabbath with a break from work is a good thing (one of the Ten Commandments), and we think we can do this better by taking a break from these routines. Any photos we take on Sunday will be posted on Monday, but we will give the counselors a break from taking and updating thousands of photos on Sunday. Consider it a break in your routine as well and take that time to offer a brief prayer of thanksgiving. God is good! Resting from work is good! We hope you will enjoy the break (but as with everything we do, this experiment will be assessed at the end of the summer… it might not be a permanent change).

Parenting has become very intense these days for you (and camp has perhaps contributed to that tendency). When I went to camp, it was 7 weeks of separation with only one letter once a week (often just one sentence long… Camp’s fun, I like canoeing.) This mandatory “meal ticket” written on Sundays was supplemented by one or two letters from my counselor (usually four sentences of scant detail). No photos, no emails, no phone calls. Lots happened every day, and my parents didn’t know about any of it until I came home. Rather than causing anxiety, the absence of these details was soothing to my parents. They knew I was safe, growing, and having a good time. They knew that they would learn the details that mattered to me in good time. Such parenting was easy and beneficial for everyone.

Things are different these days. We post thousands of photos and deliver thousands of emails daily. Keeping up with all this content is a lot of work for both you and us, and it may not be beneficial. A Sabbath break makes sense. We are going to try it out and see how it goes. We think it will be an improvement… Camp is a place to grow. The girls thrive, perhaps because they have room to grow on their own.

So take a break… catch up on the photos and write your emails another day… It’s ok to skip some days! Know that soon you will be going over camp photos with your daughter at home, enjoying some amazing conversations as you connect with her camp experiences on her terms. That is the best way to understand camp if you can’t be here on staff.

Weather… 70 degrees, rain (light, occasional)
Breakfast… Truck Drivers Special (biscuits and sausage gravy)
Joke… “Pass the Bacon, Pig”
Lunch… Chicken Sandwiches
Dinner… Sloppy Joes and Sweet Potato Tots
EP… Group Fun Night: (T1-TL5: Water fun at Waterpark and Slip-and-Slide; TU5 - B5: Messy Survivor Showdown; W4 - W6, B6, C1 - C12: Rollin’ in our Jammies Bunco party)