GAGA Goo Goo

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6

"Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist after growing up." Pablo Picasso

If you would have told this toe headed, tan legged, devout Cherokee tribe tomboy who slept in the top bunk of a green and white open air wood cabin for three weeks every summer from age seven to twenty three, screamed our Alma Mater, did polar bear swims in TAW lake, spit watermelon seeds in the dell, laughed until I wet my pants,  and received nine badges in Archery, that one day I would be in my thirties having lost a fortune, nearly wrecked my young hot marriage, and am starting over in Manhattan while trying to shed my stressed out worry wart uptight, uncool image, I would have told you to go fly a kite.. 

Not this Camp Ton-A-Wandah girl!

Funny how life has a way of quieting the child within..

Complacency squelches Creativity

Adventure is replaced with Angst

Responsibility suffocates the Rocker.

And we cease listening to the wild and wise inside.

Yesterday, we pulled past the white split rail fence and turned on to the well traveled gravel road into the 1933 camp entrance. The smell of wet cedar and fresh rhododendron filled the air and the sound of young girls singing carried over the lake an old familiar tune.  In a moment's time my past came flooding back and I could literally taste my youthful idealism streaming down my cheeks in the form of salty tears.

Treatment, Time and Experience change all of us. But if there is still a touch of purity in our motives and a slight naivete in our pursuits...we haven't lost touch. That child can still be fostered.

I BELIEVE

I believe in life as a Great Game.

I believe that I must uphold the colors in good faith, never alibi, but play the game fair and square to win...never alibi

I believe in friendships and the joy of service to others.

I believe in the flowers, the sunshine and the clouds, the glory of the sunset and in every beautiful thing.

I believe in the whisper of the leaves, the strength of the trees, the call of the birds, the inspiration of the towering mountains and in every great lesson nature teaches.

I believe in moments of silence and in nights of quiet when a girl can question her soul and find herself.

I believe in love and I believe in faith to the highest.

I believe in the guiding spirit of youth that looks upward and finds the best in life.

I believe in my better self because I believe in God.

Camp Ton-A-Wandah Creed.

Winding down to my second to last night in the glorious Appalachian Mountains. A ten year old bottle of Penfolds 707 decanted and tender short ribs falling off the bone just singing a little Springsteen.

"Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
a little of the glory of, well time slips away
and leaves you with nothing mister but
boring stories of glory days... Aw Glory Days passing by. Glory Days."

 The Boss

Do you remember who you were before you became who you are now?