Kids Cried When They Said Goodbye

I talked on the telephone yesterday with my old friend Fred Lorber, who was instrumental in make this summer a monumental success for Camp Choconut. Fred, a busy web business owner, completely upended his life and work in Minneapolis to serve as head counselor this year at Choconut. I could tell from the smile on his voice that the season was a big win, and when he told me that the campers were so sad to leave that tears were shed and vows were made to return next year, I was convinced.

This has been a terrific year for Camp Choconut.

Fred deserves many C-H-O's at the upcoming Camp Choconut Foundation Reunion on Labor Day Weekend, which informed sources tell me he will be attending. Not only did Fred volunteer untold hours over the course of a month to assist Camp Director John Bauer in launching and then running Choconut, Fred served as a critical link to the Camp Choconut traditions known and cherished by old camp boys across many decades.

I have never believed in tradition for tradition's sake. What I respect now about the Camp Choconut traditions I know and love is that there is a true and thoughful purpose behind each of them.

But it was not always that way at Choconut.

Dividing a camp into two competitive and opposing teams for the entire season doesn't make sense to me, but Choconut did so for many years, and many camps continue to do it today. Call me crazy, but civil war strikes me as disfunctional, not something to be emulated.

Ham Horne got rid of the "Blue and White" teams when he reopened the camp in 1961. He's the one who vetted the old traditions and contributed the new ones in a way that made and continues to make supreme and lasting sense. He's responsible more than any other person for the Camp Choconut that I know and love.

Choconut's traditions are understated, a quality that I appreciate. Choconut has never knocked campers over the head with tradition.

As a young boy there in the 1970s, It never registered with me that Jury had been meeting since the beginning of the century, or that "milkshakes" before lunch and breakfast cereal before dinner were traditions that preceded my time by many, many years as well. It was my time, and my camp. That's all I cared about.

Practicality and tradition are merged at Camp Choconut, and have been for along time, especially since Ham took over, and now with John Bauer. As I look back now, I appreciate the reasons behind the traditions. Change is inevitable and sometimes necessary. But as with tradition, change needs to have a good reason behind it.

It was a cold, clear morning today. Fred Lorber woke up before anyone else and walked out to gather kindling to keep the embers burning from the night before. For that I thank him most sincerely.