The World is Full of Trickery

I guess I’ll have to wait to post the continued drama surrounding our little car accident, since I did promise a post about Final Vespers from the eyes of a staff member…In case you missed the first two installments of this series, you can find them here and here.

As a staff member, Final Vespers at the end of the first term of camp meant saying goodbye to one group of kids and the excitement of saying hello to another group. It meant that everyone would have an extra day off (or half day) between terms, it meant that massive amounts of cleaning and manual labor were about to be done. It meant getting the property, which had been well used for four full weeks, back to looking like no one had used it all summer.

Final Vespers at the end of the second term of camp was a bit of a different story. It was a welcome occasion, as it meant the end of long, hot work days and the return of “real life.” But, even though there was a lot of burn out and most people were ready for camp to end, Final Vespers had a way of putting it all into perspective and it gave everyone a chance to reflect on how full the summer had been, the laughter and joy, the challenges of living in close quarters, the smell of rain in the mountains, the brightness of the stars, the chilly waters of the Pecos River, the view from Brush Ranch Rock, hiking to the top of Rosilla Peak for sunrise, all of the traditions, and most of all, the lifelong friendships that were forged on those hot summer days.

In preparation for Final Vespers the administrative staff would assign everyone parts. This was a bit arbitrary, but a daunting task nonetheless. There was a handheld candle with a heavy paper (think posterboard heavy) circle at the bottom to keep the wax from dripping onto their hands. There were two pieces of paper glued to each candle, one was the reading assigned to the candle holder and the other was the reading assigned to the person who would be reading just before the person holding the candle. During rehearsals, this always seemed to confuse people. Most people weren’t paying enough attention to what was read before them to realize it was their turn to read! There were also always parts that made people giggle a bit (giggling that had to be stifled during the actual performance). My personal favorite was this line, read by one of our counselors from the UK:

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.
 (with lots of emphasis on the word “trickery”)

(This line was a part of the larger Desiderata which you can read here.)

We always stumbled through rehearsal a bit and I’m sure my dad had his doubts about whether or not we’d actually pull off a good performance! Somehow, it all always came together!

When I was a camper I always wondered how it all worked out so well. How the torches stayed burning, how the grass didn’t burn, how all the staff knew all the words to the songs…And now I know. The torches were great big metal pipes with towels soaked in diesel attached to them with chicken wire. They were lit just before the staff walked up the hill from the marsh and then placed in the fire pit on top of the wood that was also diesel soaked (who needs lighter fluid when you have diesel?!). The diesel must have burned off quickly because I don’t remember ever thinking that the forest reeked of burning fuel! The grass around the fire pit was usually soaked down before the performance and there was a huge firehose at the ready just in case things got out of hand. To my knowledge, they never did. And, the staff had all the words to the songs on their candles and somehow were able to read them and sing in the dark! I’ve just given away lots of secrets, but now you know how to start a huge bonfire in a matter of seconds and how 40 people can pull off a 20 minute performance with about an hours worth of rehearsal!

I think I enjoyed Final Vespers as much during my time on staff as I did when I was a camper. I loved waiting down the hill and hearing the footsteps of the silent campers coming into the meadow. And I loved walking up the hill in the near dark to see tears glimmering on their little faces as their eyes lit up in awe of the huge torches and candles. I also loved the sense of closure Final Vespers brought to each summer. It was the best possible way to say goodbye to new and old friends, campfires, s’mores, sleeping under the stars, dew in the morning grass, mosquitos, the gurgling river, and the long sunny days.