Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust

One of Camp Foley's best traditions (in my professional opinion) is it's birthday tradition. I love when the entire Dining Hall sings "happy birthday" to someone as they stand on a milk crate and followed by the counselors surrounding the birthday camper and singing the staff birthday song. Who can resist ominously chanting, "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we hate do it, but we must we must," as campers and counselors follow the birthday boy or girl to the lake to be thrown in by his or her counselors? Follow all of this up with a special Foley birthday cake - amazing! Guest blogger and 2013 counselor Melissa Martutartus recalls the birthday of one of her 2012 campers.

Melissa helping to throw Jessica into Whitefish Lake.

I have many favorite moments that I can recall from my first summer at Foley. I love the fact that there are so many traditions that one would only understand having gone to Foley. One of which is to be thrown in the lake on your birthday. It was one of my favorite moments, being a new counselor, that I was a part of throwing my camper into the lake. It made me feel like I helped make Jessica’s day even though she knew it was coming. However, it made my day even more because the entire camp was watching. I felt as though it is an honor to throw someone into the lake. And since Jessica was a member of my cabin, we were able to laugh as a cabin about it that night together! 

-Melissa Martutartus

Have you ever celebrated a birthday at Foley, or  might you be a first-timer camper this summer and have this tradition to look forward to? Do you have another Foley tradition that's your favorite? 

TBT: Parker Remembers Some Camp Dances

One of the favorite nights of camp is the Grand Dance Festival. Campers dress up crazy and make their way to the Wabi for a memorable night of dancing like a fool with friends. As you grow up and out of camp, you'll definitely remember a lot of the dance themes, popular music and spending time with friends in the Wabi (or Basketball Court if you were around for those dances).

This summer will be my tenth at camp. For most of my summers, especially as I got older, one of my favorite nights was the dance. Gettin’ my boogie on to some classic Backstreet Boys hits and rocking out to Bohemian Rhapsody--what could be better? When I look back at my dances as a camper, two moments jump out at me.

Parker with friends at the PJ Dance in 2009.

One of my very first memories of camp is from my first summer in 2003. I was a wee young ten-year-old in Yakama, and first session had been progressing quite nicely. I had made new friends, and I learned how to play Mafia; everything was great. Then, disaster struck. The dance theme was announced: Cabin Colors. Each cabin picked a color and everyone was supposed to deck themselves out from head to toe in said color. My cabin-mates decided that pink was the best choice, and I started freaking out because I didn’t own any pink. Worst case scenarios started flashing through my head: Would my cabin-mates stop liking me because I didn’t match? Would they bar me from the dance if I wasn’t dressed for the theme? Ten year old me couldn’t handle it. I was so distressed about not having any pink that I started crying.  

Everything turned around when, probably about twenty seconds later, some of the girls in my cabin asked if I needed to borrow anything.I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited to don a bright pink rain poncho than I was on that night.  All of my earlier fears were completely unfounded. I really hope that I gave my friends a caring bead at our cabin counsel later, because their offer to share brightened that entire session for me.  

Fast forward to my last year as a camper, 2009 first session. Something about being a CIT, being back out on the basketball court, and being there with a ton of my friends made that night incredibly special. When all the wolves got together at the end of the night to circle up and sing along to Piano Man (because that had magically become a thing the year before), I felt like we were a family. That dance was the cherry on top of a great session, and one of my favorite camp memories.

Parker with staff and campers at the dance in 2012.

As a counselor, the dance is still one of my favorite nights of camp. The Wabi and its new tech is cool as can be; the flashing lights just make me want to break out into a round of Call Me Maybe or Aaron’s Party. All of last summer’s dances were fantastic, and had some particularly brilliant themes (I’m looking at you, Bro-down Throw-down). Even if it’s a little warm, when the music is blasting, I feel the need to dance with anyone and everyone. I will dance at you until you dance with me. Though my dance skills are a bit lacking, I like to think I make up for that with enthusiasm. I’ve got at least four spectacular nights ahead of me this summer-- who’s going to dance with me?  

--Parker Poche

Are you ready to put on your dancing shoes this summer? We hope so because each session you can count on attending an awesome and memorable Grand Dance Festival! 

If Tess Can Conquer a Fear, so Can You!

This week's guest blogger, 2013 counselor Tess Lee, tells us all about her fear of spiders and how her time at Foley has helped her to (slowly) begin conquering the fear. This year, we think it would be awesome if every camper took a page out of Tess' book and tried to conquer a fear this summer at camp! 

Let me give you small snapshot into my life, I feel comfortable in a city, in the mountains, in lakes, rivers, oceans, pretty much wherever, as long as I am surrounded by good friends. But what really makes my skin crawl are bugs...spiders especially. Now I know what most people are thinking, all that, “they are more afraid of you then you are of them”, and the “they wont do anything if you dont bother them.” I have tried hard to believe in these positive thoughts, but the honest truth is that I can’t even look at a spider without my palms sweating, and some sort of yelp coming from my mouth.

What is so great about camp is how completely engulfed in nature you are in nearly every activity, so bugs and such are going to be a natural occurrence.

It started the night of one of last year’s Flick-n-Floats, I was in the Washo getting ready for bed with my cabin when one of my campers casually let me know there was a spider right on my forehead. One can imagine what a scene I made, ripping off my sweatshirt and slapping myself in the face, all the while screaming. I realized this was getting out of hand...
 Being a referee on the paintball course last year, I would be walking through webs on the woods ball courses, take a deep breathe, wipe off the spiders and such, and just keep on moving. I learned that if I had spent day in and day out in those woods all summer and never got bit by anything worse than a mosquito or a tick here and there that maybe I was being a little irrational with my fears all along. Although my fear of spiders has not completely disappeared, I have learned to deal with them without tears, and running now. 

Tess, paintball ref extraordinaire! 

Being a camper I always relied on my own counselor to get rid of creepy crawly things, but now being a counselor, I have tried to take on that responsibility. Even though many times I am still running away, I stop, take a deep breathe, and try and walk back and deal with that small little creature, which may seem like a small insignificant step, but for me has taken years. If I think about the line that I have heard hundreds of times over, “they are more afraid of you than you are of them,” I cant help but think that is a little true now, if I was a small tiny insect (even shorter than I am now), and saw some giant screaming at me and running, I would definitely be a scared.

-Tess Lee 

What fears will you conquer this summer? Perhaps you'll try a new activity, talk to someone you've never met before or try to earn a difficult award. With whatever you try to conquer, we're excited to help you try!