Being an "outsider" and never having attended as a camper, I was worried that I would walk into my first summer and feel like I did not belong. I had fears of everyone already knowing everyone else, and I had no clue what to expect. Sort of like Day One of recruitment at USC... when they swing open the doors to the house and hundreds of girls are bouncing and screaming songs at you. Except, in this situation, I was stuck at camp for 9 more weeks and had no way of dropping out of it.
One of the first things I was impressed with at camp was how everyone seemed so much like a family. I noticed this primarily in the other counselors who had obviously been at camp for years (insert high pitched screams and hugs) and saw that everyone talked with such high regards for this place. I later learned that part of the spirit that helps make it feel like a "big family" is that Camp is owned and operated by the same family that opened it in 1920.
The patriarch of the family was Jim "Jimdaddy" Miller and for all 4 years that I was in college working on staff, his presence was a staple of every morning through "Breakfast Club." It always began with the same song:
"When the bell rings out, clap up your hands and shout, it's gonna be a GREAT DAY! Campers set your goals, jump up and play your roles, it's gonna be a great day. Breakfast Club awaaaaaaaits us, to tell the stooooooorrrryyy we love to hear (WE LOVE IT!) Winners we will be, attitude is the key, Greystone will have a great day! HOR-RAY!"
I can still hear his voice saying "Good morning breakfast clubbers!" (Our response: "Good morning, Jim") "I would like to know what kind of day are YOU having?" (Our response: A GREAT day!) "And how do you feel?" (Our response: Terrrrrrrrrrrific!) "I too feel terrific..."
Other than breakfast clubs, Jimdaddy would make his way through camp most mornings greeting campers and counselors alike with a joke or calling them by name. Jimdaddy was all about the personal touches, and was especially amazing at making you feel like you were the only person at camp.
I will most remember Jimdaddy for the advice and encouragement he gave me the summer after I graduated college. I came to camp for that 4th summer on staff having gone on two job interviews and getting two rejections. While I had faith that I would find the right job for me, and knew that CAMP was where I was supposed to be at that time, I had some serious stress thinking about not having a job lined up post-graduation. Thankfully, Laura, Kelly and Jimboy (my incredible bosses) allowed me the freedom that June Camp to pursue interviews as they came my way. One morning I received a call that I would be interviewing the next day, and I immediately knew that I had to make time to sit with Jimdaddy and get some advice. He was an accomplished business man who knew how to treat people and how to set yourself apart. When I found him and asked for his time, he did not hesitate to stop what he was doing that morning and spend as long as I needed giving advice and helping offer words of encouragement. He said to me "look them in the eyes and say that you are different from the rest because you will work harder and longer. You don't have to know the answers to all their questions, but be honest and tell them that you are willing to learn everything and more that they ask of you. And if you don't get the job, learn from that. Take every opportunity you are given to learn something." (that's a paraphrase, and what I have written in my journal from that summer)
Among other things, his guidance in breakfast clubs and through that conversation helped to give me the confidence to pursue my passions and not give up after, what turned out to be, 6 total job interviews that summer.
When we had the staff retreat in January that winter, I wish I would have known that the conversation I had with Jimdaddy would become the last. I remember it like it was yesterday: It was Sunday morning and we were having breakfast down in the Grey (including some things Rob Brown had killed and stuffed in a casing) , and Jimdaddy came to do one last Breakfast Club. He gave us a mid-year check up and reminded us to focus on the goodness of God while we are away from camp. He reminded us of the backbone of camp and the foundations that we have instilled in us that will carry us through our lives. Then he did a trial-run on a joke that he planned to use the next summer. I have it written down somewhere...it was about a man and his wife (Mr. and Mrs. Hill) who got in an accident and perished. I don't remember all of the very "Jimdaddy"-like details that can only make a joke so special, but the punchline was something like"The hills are alive with the sound of music.." when the couple began to stir after hearing a particular song.
After his joke, he came over and asked me about my job, how my students were, how my colleagues were, and more details that showed just how much he truly cared about people. I will never forget how special that was, for him to remember me that morning, and I am forever grateful for his guidance and wisdom that I received so freely the 4 years I knew him.
This post will not mean much to people not involved in the camp bubble, but I am CERTAIN that every person who is a Greystone girl (or Greystone guy) could fill pages with their own Jimdaddy stories.
I still badly miss the corny jokes, the 4 fold plan each week of Main Camp, snap-crackle-and pop as I got ready to do Stumblers, his bow ties, the suspenders, his straw hat, how excited Buz/Woody were when he pointed at their table for the "how do YOU feel" part of BC, his positive attitude, and his little sayings that have become a part of my personal mantra since I have left the gates of camp.
This blog post is incredibly too short to adequately express my true admiration for a man that shaped my life so much in such little interaction with him, but I did want to reflect on his life on the anniversary of his passing.
So as I'm ending this post, I'll leave with the signature final Breakfast Club ending:
"As you go through life, whatever may be your goal, keep your eye upon the doughnut, and not upon the hole"
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| You are missed by so many, Jimdaddy. |
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