John Giannotti leaves today after a week here volunteering. What a joy for me personally it's been to have him here. To see for himself how the FV magic continues - what continuity there is, and, at the same time, so many qualitative improvements. Last night was his last at camp for 2015, so I persuaded him to stay up late and walk around to CQ fires, and have a taste of a CQ-burger which is an utterly unique contextual cuisine. He met me after I'd told a story to Outpost at the fire-ring near Lakeview and the Hird hardcourts. We went together to Lenape where I told a second story, and then we were off: first to Pokey-Totem (pita pizzas, some with pepperoni), then Tacoma (no food but a really good group and lots of good talk, including a few induced stories about FV back in the day), then Outpost (and that's where we dined on CQ-burgers - with cheese and actually lettuce, and chips) where there were perhaps 15 people from various villages enjoying the scene. And finally, at nearly 1 AM, to Leadership Lodge on the other side of camp (where the CITs live). Mike Schneider (also visiting) had marinated some chicken and grilled it up for us. I dropped John off at Lakeview at 1:22 AM. For a couple of old guys, who'd awakened that morning at 6:30 AM, it was a loooong and good day. Another starry sky. Another sense of the community. More conversations about the kids, even in our few hours' of precious time off. John said, "You know. I didn't realize why doing this was a good idea, but I just followed your lead. But now I know why you wanted me to do this. Now I fully realize that Frost Valley is in good hands and it's a place where these young people are exactly as dedicated as we were decades ago." And I said: "John, when you're here, you have to leave it all on the field."
The photo above shows John, earlier in the evening, pretending to feint during the "smelliest shoe" challenge at Challenge Night.
