I’m sitting in a hotel room in Houston, Texas after a great afternoon in Dallas yesterday reuniting with a terrific group of Illahee girls there. I will leave in a few minutes to greet a group of girls in Houston, then head to the airport for a flight back to Asheville. I love this time of year for a number of reasons.When I left camp yesterday, the colors were amazing, not quite at their peak, but beautiful nonetheless. I always forget until they change again just how lucky I am to live in western North Carolina, and Illahee in particular. There is a crispness in the air, and I think that I might have missed my opportunity for an October slide down Sliding Rock in relatively warm fashion! Oh well, that will toughen me up for the winter months! It is always gratifying to see how excited Illahee girls get when we travel in the fall. Camp is such a BIG part of their (and our) lives. Sometimes, I wonder if we can really live up to the expectation…we’re trying our darndest!
I spoke with Laurie this morning, and she is headed to the Big Easy to see our New Orleans girls this afternoon and then will be back at camp tomorrow. We are tag teaming it with our own kids. I have been helping Gardner, our daughter work on college applications. That is a pretty overwhelming time in a senior’s life, I have discovered. Navigating AP classes, senior thesis (in her case), and college essays, with sports and fundraising events for senior trip etc. is not for the faint of heart. She wrote one of her college essays on the influence counselors at camp have had on her own ambitions as far as college is concerned and beyond. She was motivated to apply for and complete a Rotary Scholarship program in Argentina that has really influenced her interests in other cultures. Pretty neat stuff.
I’ll keep adding pictures to the post below and the slide show as we visit more cities. Not sure why it is wonky with some pictures cut off and some sideways, but when I get some time, I’ll try to fix it. Try to come to the showings if we still haven’t traveled to your city. It’s fun to catch up!