Camp Green Lane Blog Post, August 4th

One more Guest Blog post from Melissa Katz who has been sending her kids to Camp Green Lane and thus members of the Camp Green Lane family since 2019.

Hello Everyone!

First time guest blogger here! I am writing this as someone who has never played BBK, never heard the three booms first hand, never ran to BBI, never got to write  my name on the walls of Arts & Crafts, and never lit a candle at FireFly.

But both of my kids have.

As a parent of a Greek and a Senior who have grown up over the last five years ‘between the arches’, (a CGL term I’ve learned over the years), I am overwhelmed by how lucky they are. My husband and I did not have the privilege of sleep away camp as kids, so when we went ‘shopping’ for camps, Green Lane was an easy pick. From the minute we walked onto camp, the good energy was palpable. Uncle Adam explained how the camp is like a family and generations of campers keep coming back.

And a family it is. Green Lane has been all that and more for my family. As the end of summer approaches, I know my kids are dreading re-entry into the real world outside of their camp bubble where it will be a Friday and not Heyday.

But selfishly, I can’t wait to hear their stories. I can’t wait to hear the chants from the dining hall, the songs from Color War, the details  about Uncle this one and Aunt that one. To have a little window into their world. This world that is uniquely theirs.

I will forever be on the outside looking in at this incredible experience.

But their smiles are infectious and the friends they’ve made over the years have been some of their closest. The traditions that are now engrained in my kids are hopefully ones that they’ll pass down to their kids.  As they say, Watch as the Generations Grow…

I wish I understood all the terms and was a part of all the traditions. I wish I knew who won Color War in 1997, or the words to Hey Say. I wish I too could sit in the Globe during Sing, wearing an airbrushed t-shirt and see the magic that is happening there. I’m even a little jealous of the beautiful alumni picture that is taken during Visiting Day. But I am never not grateful for my kids’ experiences here. They are the lucky ones.

To the parents, like me, who do not have a PhD in CGL, your kids will teach you all you need to know. They’re coming home soon, a little taller, a little tanner, vastly changed for the better and speaking fluent CGL!

And you, like I, will be forever grateful to the Camp Green Lane family for giving our kids a summer home.

As they say,

Yours in Camping,

Melissa Katz, with help from Dara Janowitz (CGL Family since 2018)