thoughts at the end of session 1 (or: Bud Cox at the top of the ladder)

Rainy session, but terrific. Fewer-than-you'd-expect homesick kids, given all that rain. Lots of scampering inside as it thundered, but also: lots of playing games in the rain, with spirit. Overnights somehow (mostly) got out and back. Chuck Masters, the perfectly named out-trip outfitter, kept up with the rush. Adventure Village (its VC really does like to call it "Sequoia") was fabulously anarchic as usual, and actually did some Adirondack trips for canoeing and backpacking. Hemlock was boisterous and active; Windsong was a good-intense, positively emotional sisterhood; Forest was huge and happily swarmed the fields and hills; Pokey-Totem was adorable; Lakota consisted of phenomenal women; and so on. The villages: unique, trademark distinct, respecting the (really) tens of thousands of "ancestors" who have passed through them in the many decades prior to 2013. One ancestor I kept missing, at the turn of every corner along every path, was Eric Blum. But that's to be expected, as the loss of him is so recent. At the closing campfire, Bud Cox somewhat surprised us by showing up (at both camps' fires - Wawayanda first and Hird next), dragging his big ladder, atop which he belted out a great version of the old standby, "Going on a Lion Hunt." I was impressed, really, by the way the older kids completely abandoned themselves in this silly ritual. Bud was, shall we say, at the top of the game. He is also at the top of the ladder of FV society, according at least to one Hemlock boy. (I'm myself hilariously near the top, so you can consider my making this list available here a bit of silly self-promotion.) Yes, the aforementioned Hemlock camper made a Frost Valley "hierarchy chart" and gave it to his counselor, Del Giannotti, who gave it to his father John Giannotti, who passed it along to me. Here it is, word for word:

Poky/Totem
Susky/Forest
Lakota/Outpost
Sacky/Hemlock
Tacoma/Lenape
PAC/Windsong
CITs
JCs
Counselors
Village Chiefs
Camp Director
Time Lord (Al)
Guy on a ladder singing a song about lions

Finally, the "guy on a ladder" is a mythologized figure, as he himself says all the time, and so is the whole idea of the hierarchy, and the Hemlock guys were having some good fun with it.  Bud would tell you he's just a guy who associated with FV,  like so many others, but in his case never wanted to leave - now in his 61st summer at Wawayanda. His preferred spot on the ladder: counselor. And, in his time, he was a superbly focused and caring counselor. I personally remember it.

In the end the cabin counselor is either at the top or at the center of the "hierarchy"- or, actually, in every position. Every good director is a counselor in essence. And every counselor makes a temporary but, in a child's mind, a lasting new family.

One parent, of a Lakota girl, sent me the following note through Facebook messaging:

C. had the best time at camp, I think she talked for a hour straight without taking a breath when she got home. I asked her if she got homesick this year and she said "I didn't get homesick at Frost Valley, I will get Frost Valley sick at home." She added it really felt like family there... She had a wonderful time!

I didn't get homesick at Frost Valley. I will get Frost Valley sick at home. There you go.