Mini Reunions

     I’ve had two visitors since I last wrote, and why is it blog-worthy? Well, both happen to be CK NJ-ers from years past!  Although they are no longer staff members, both of them have special places in Campus Kids history. And they have become great friends of mine as well!

The first visit was from Dave Morgan, who’s been everything at camp from a counselor, to the Day Trips & Special Activities coordinator, to Athletics & Evening Programs coordinator. Alright, enough with that “official stuff”… most importantly, you probably remember Dave as the lead guitarist and one of the Dave’s in “The Dave2 Experience,” and later “Dave2 and the Ste Amigos” – both functioning as the official CKNJ “house band” for our special events at camp. They played in the first four Campstock’s, and I am pretty sure helped to start our beginning of the summer music event, Rock of July! Dave has been a part of CK since 2005, and currently lives and works in the United States.

     Dave came down from Connecticut to visit us in NJ because his all-time favorite band, Muse, was playing at the Prudential Center in Newark. So we all got tickets to go – and what a show it was! If you like rock music and amazing vocals a-la Freddie Mercury of Queen, you should absolutely try to see Muse if you have the opportunity. They also had amazing lighting and set stuff going on – three platforms rising and lowering off the stage for each musician, a laser light show, and even some huge inflated eyeballs bouncing through the crowd! I got some pictures, but it just doesn’t do it justice!   

     Besides Muse, it was also great to catch up with an old friend, and we even scheduled an impromptu lunch with the 2010 Staff Assistants who live nearby. Dave had fun chatting with the Staffies, not just to reminisce about camp, but because some of them were his campers in 2005 and 2006 (members of “Tree Huggers Anonymous” and “Knights of the Roundtable”). “They’re all grown up!” he said to me on the ride back from lunch. It is amazing to look back at their old bunk group pictures and see how they’ve changed from chubby-cheeked campers to young adults that did amazing work this summer at camp.
     My second visitor was Jack Dinwiddy! Jack and I both started as counselors at CKNJ in 2003! Then, as the years went on, we got to be Head Counselors together for the older kids in camp in 2006! Needless to say, we’ve spent a lot of time together, and although now he is not a staff member of CK anymore, he is still working in the world of camp and has become one of my closest “colleagues” in the profession.

For this particular visit, Jack came over to the US with his girlfriend, Stacie, for her brother’s wedding in Georgia. So, they took the opportunity in the states to go on “holiday” – a vacation – and travel all over the Northeast catching up with camp friends from summer’s past. Jack and Stacie came by the office when they arrived in NJ and spent a few hours relaxing before Stu and Vanessa joined us for a special dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Yuki Hana, the Japanese restaurant in town. We had great food and conversation, and got a nice picture of us all, too (thanks to Stacie for being the photographer!). They then joined me in a quick car ride home and spent the night at our house. We talked for hours about camp and lots of other stuff too (but mostly camp!) and even though we thought we were boring Stacie and Jim, they both commented that it was cool to meet the people that their significant others have been talking about for years!   As quickly as they arrived, they were off to their next adventure; but it sure was great to see Jack in person instead of just emailing back and forth and chatting via Facebook.
     It was nice to have these little reunions with my camp friends. And it will be AWESOME to have our BIG camp reunion in just a couple of weeks! I can’t wait to see everybody and hear how life has been since camp ended. I hope you’ll join us if you can. You can RSVP to the reunion here if you haven’t done so already!


See you there!
Teri