Zeal for Dressing Up

This morning we woke to a gentle, though steady, rain. It’s really been the first time during this spell of wet weather that it’s rained consistently for more than 45 minutes or so. Most of the “real rains” have been at night, but the radar this morning showed this cell would be with us a few hours, yielding not a stormy kind of rain, but continuous little drops, almost like a beaded curtain of water. It was a morning of rain coats, ponchos and rubber boots… And mostly indoor activities. All the crafts activities, all seven of them, have their own studio, whether it’s inside one of the historic log cabins or on a covered porch, so they were unaffected. The gym became livelier with the archery and riflery girls joining the action, and the dining hall accommodated tennis players for a board game. For horseback riding, the campers had a horse grooming party, staying dry inside the barn.

The yoga classes that meet in the Hillside Lodge continue to be well attended. MK, our yoga instructor, seems to have an endless supply of poses and relaxation exercises for the girls. Today she had several partner poses to present. One was a simple back-to-back twist pose, and another was called the “Child and Fish” pose. With relaxing music playing, MK tries to create a calm atmosphere, even if the girls tend to giggle at each other trying each new pose. It’s a lighthearted activity that celebrates process and initiative rather than some notion of perfection. Being together, feeling good, and having fun are the goals; doing yoga, in this case, is the means.

A group of Senior girls headed out to the Tuckasegee River today for a whitewater kayaking trip. Being a dam-controlled river, the recent rains haven’t affected to it as severely, making it still safe to run. The water was a little muddier than usual (though the “Tuck” is always a little muddy), but all the named rapids were perfect and there were still plenty of eddies to catch and play in. In fact, the water level made the river slightly easier to paddle because several ordinarily shallow sections were now more forgiving. One highlight of the trip was a brief stop to jump off the rock right blow the Moonshot rapid… A little swimming to get even more wet!

At lunch, as the rain subsided and yes the sun broke through the clouds for an afternoon back outside, Frampton announced the afternoon was to be “Disney Day” and that everyone should break out their Disney-related costumes, especially for dinner because it was Disney Restaurant Night. This is a special dinner where the counselors transform the dining hall into a themed restaurant, in this case into anything Disney, using posters, table ornaments and other decorations.

The costumes were amazing! And the enthusiasm for dressing up really showed as I’d say 95% of the campers and staff members were made up in some way or another. Just a little face paint, a goofy hairstyle, or handmade sign taped to your shirt was plenty good, even as some girls shown in complete Disney Character costumes. Lilo and Stitch, Chip and Dale, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, super heroes (from the Incredibles), monsters (from Monsters, Inc.) Winnie the Pooh, Fish (from the Little Mermaid), and more princesses than I can count came to life at Rockbrook singing their lungs out during dinner and posing on the hill afterwards for a few photos. Ever seen a frog play tetherball with a mouse? It happened last night!

It’s so wonderful to see these girls, young girls and teenagers alike, have such zeal for dressing up like this- bent over with laughter and asking for their picture to be taken so they can scrunch up their faces into an even sillier look. It shows that they are proud and self-confident, they feel safe and cared for, and they are surrounded by friends, completely free of other social pressures (no boys!). What a wonderful community for them.