Wekeela 2020: They Did It

As you can see I've all but ceased writing. You know why. I don't need to go into it here, right now. I also don't want to taint this entry. But today, I thought was worthy of writing. Today I'm supposed to be in Maine.

Why am I supposed to be in Maine? It's Camp Wekeela Visiting Day! Well, it was supposed to be. If this wasn't Pandemic Summer 2020. However, there is still good news. E, IS, in fact, AT Camp Wekeela. It's just that there is only five weeks of camp versus the normal seven weeks, and to keep their bubble of safety, no one could come in or out. No parents or grandparents, sisters or brothers, aunts, uncles, or cousins this year, could get up at the ass-crack of dawn, to drive to the sprawling Wekeela campus, in the middle-of-nowhere Maine, to wait for like an hour, in a line of cars, to proceed down a winding path through the throngs of kids and staff yelling and screaming as the families come on down like The Price Is Right. #BestShortRideEver

Now, to the average reader, that might not sound that endearing or exciting. All I can say is that I'm glad I got to do it last year as our first year as Camp Wekeela parents. It is SO. MUCH. FUN. Seeing those kids waving, cheering, crying...That moment is priceless.

Obviously from last year

This entry isn't even for me, B or E. It's not a sales pitch. It's a love letter to Lori & Ephram, Jonathan, Gretchen, Rory, and all the countless staff that I don't know their names, who made this summer happen. It's even to the governor of Maine who allowed sleepaway camps to decide whether to open or not. Because that wasn't the case in every state.

But back to Lori & Ephram. They are the owners/directors of Wekeela and the backbone of this amazing camp community. The people who had to take on the responsibility of hundreds of lives this summer. They are the people who had to ultimately decide if this was going to be too much responsibility for them in the face of this unknown virus pretty killing hundreds of thousands of people.

I'm lucky enough to have been in constant contact with them throughout the winter and I know how difficult this all was- to go back and forth about what to do, what they were going to be allowed to do, how scary it was, but one thing never wavered. They felt that the kids NEEDED camp. After being cooped up at home for months, quarantined with just parents, out of school, away from friends and normal lives, they wanted the kids to be able to return to whatever semblance of normalcy they could. If Wekeela could provide that in some way, they were on board and ready to go. I can picture myself on the phone with Lori in April, pacing, discussing this, and her adamantly saying- "These kids NEED camp" with a resoluteness that I knew if there was a way, they were doing it.

And I can say, now that we are in week three, all in the clear, with everyone at camp having been tested numerous times, and all testing negative: They. Did. It. They did it. For everyone who didn't believe it could happen, said all camps should be closed, that there would be an outbreak- they did it.

I can say with 100% certainty, there has never been a more moving, more awesome video sent from camp, than this:

I could, and have, watched that video like twenty-five times. And I only cried like, the first, five.

People ask if we miss him. That's a hard one to answer. And not in a jokey, "oh, we're having so much fun without him!" way, we say- "We don't even want him to come home". And we mean it. Because, why? Come home to what? The shitshow of people arguing still what to do about school? For him to eventually hear by the time he gets home that they decided to make school all virtual? For him to have to mask back up after he's been living his best life, maskless, in Maine, at camp, with friends, doing kid stuff? No thanks. I wish they could keep him up there indefinitely. This is the safest he could possibly be. Camp was able to create a totally safe bubble. Why the hell would I want him to come home? So I could worry every time he leaves the house, every time he comes in contact with someone?

I don't know what this school year is going to bring. I don't know if we're going to be sitting here next July in the same shitshow boat. What I do know is that Lori & Ephram and their staff should be kicking back and patting themselves on the back for a job very well done. And while I said this wasn't a sales pitch, I have to think that parents looking for a sleepaway camp or even parents who weren't looking for one before, would look at what they did and think about Wekeela for next summer. Because Lori & Ephram actually figured out how to get kids to Maine, even from the "hot spots" around the country, safely, and keep the whole community safe. That was no easy feat. It took a lot of work, faith in them, faith in the parents to tell the truth about their kids health prior to travel to camp, and then trust in everyone to do what they needed to do to ensure a healthy environment for all.

As a parent, I couldn't be more thankful to have been able to send E this summer. To me, this was probably the most important summer to be able to send him. We live in NJ. That means he spent the majority of the months leading to camp indoors, basement dwelling, just by nature of our weather here. I could not have him in the basement for one more day. He's eleven. He probably won't fully appreciate this gift until later in life when he looks back on this crazy time. But he will, look back, and think about how lucky he was to have been allowed a precious five weeks of normalcy in the middle of Pandemic Year 2020.

Thank you Caflun family. You are all my heroes. Without your dedication to making camp happen, this summer would have sucked. You are the reason these kids will have a bright spot in this dumpster fire of a year. I also heard E has a lead in the play, Spelling Bee, that you're doing this summer. I think I told you that E was Aladdin in his school play that never came to fruition this school year (they were a month a way from final performance when school closed), so this is another nice moment for him. (Psst...I hope it's being recorded, thanks in advance). This entry is a virtual hug to you and the D-K house is forever grateful. I'm sad to have not seen you in Maine, but hopeful for next summer. B was just happy not to have had to take that drive, but disappointed not to see you all.


Below: E back in his happy place, singing The Judge by 21 Pilots at Camp Wekeela campfire. Nothing he looks forward to more all year than campfire. That's how he judges songs, by the way- "this sounds like it would be a good campfire song..."