Camp Green Lane 100th Summer Blog Post, August 6th
Aaaannndddd…. I’m crying. Again. Or maybe still. One of those.
Ahem… is this thing on?
Welcome to my annual post-Color War blog.
Normally, this missive is written while I’m supposed to be working at my real-world job. But this year life threw me a few curveballs, including the loss of my dad in December.
My dad is the reason I’m a camp person. He’s the reason I went to Green Lane—even though he never did. His own camp closed in the 1970s, but Green Lane always reminded him of his beloved summer home. He’s the reason I have years of Visiting Day photos of my bunk in front of the flagpole. I could go on and on. But I’d like to think he’s also the reason I found my way back to camp this summer after a 14-year hiatus.
I needed a complete mental and emotional reset after a pretty crappy 2025. So I called Adam in the spring and told him that if any Upper Staff jobs opened up, to let me know. Because if anything was going to soothe my soul, it was spending the summer at camp. I like to think my dad did a little wheeling and dealing from whatever dock he’s been hanging out on, moving a few pieces around to make room for me here this summer.
Being on the inside this summer has given me my joy, my laughter, and my smile back. Watching these kids run, cheer, hug, laugh, and experience their own camp journeys has been magical. Youth, while wasted on the young, looks pretty darn good on our campers. Take a look through this summer’s videos, and if they don’t make you want to rewind time and be a kid again – especially a Green Lane kid – I don’t know what to tell you.
But back to Sing.
In my opinion, it was the best one in a very long time. The songs were all outstanding. The songwriters did an incredible job capturing each team’s themes in ways that had the kids genuinely excited to sing them.
When Jay announced it was time for White’s Friendship, I swear I heard the air change in the room. Murmurs of “Yes!” rippled through the White Team because the kids were so excited to sing their song. As I walked the rows capturing the Facebook Live feed, I saw tears streaming down faces and hands reaching for one another. Girls. Boys. Inters. Greeks. No one was immune to the overwhelming emotions of the evening.
I overheard some of our Holiday girls, tears running down their faces, asking why they were crying because they couldn’t quite explain what they were feeling. For our oldest campers, knowing this was their final Color War and final Sing as campers, those emotions ran even deeper. They were looking back on their childhoods between the Arches, realizing that while many of them will return as counselors, it will never quite be the same again.
When it was all over – after the songs had been sung, bunks reunited to hug one another and sing “Sunrise,” the winners were announced, and tears were wiped away – everyone celebrated with a Canteen treat before heading back to their cabins to relive the week and promptly pass out. Because Color War is nothing if not exhilarating… and exhausting.
Today brought a 10:00 breakfast (hooray!), Super Cleanup (double hooray!), and Country Club Day, which means Free Play all day for Lower Camp. Our PC and Greek boys spent the morning paintballing, while the PC and Greek girls enjoyed a day strolling through New Hope. Tonight we board the buses for our final trip of the summer: ice skating. We’re packing in every last minute while we still can because Firefly is approaching, and with it, our final moments between the Arches in 2026.
But enough with my never-ending tears. Pull it together, Robin!
We still have four full days left at camp, and we’re going to make every single one of them count.
– Aunt Robin