Sitting behind the igloo
Overlooking the forest
The sounds of camp behind me
The trees have grown bigger since I was last down here and obstruct the view some
It’s still beautiful and quiet
The wind caresses the trees
Somewhere down the hill, someone is mowing a lawn
The sunlight sparkles through the green of the tree canopy
Birds in the distance
I need to change into jeans
The air is cooling
The trees call out
The desire to escape people and social media and
Business and busy-ness
To be still
To unwind
To let go of it all
Cancer, Aaron, Kris, New Jersey, commuting, paying rent, earning money
The desire to give up my worldly possessions
To just be
To sit and watch the sunset through the forest trees.

A Disney karaoke night
Turns into an en-masse Disney sing-a-long
The kids belt out Hamilton and The Little Mermaid and Mulan and Encanto
They know Menken but Miranda is au courant
The joy of it
The fun of it
The delight of singing songs together

A visit to
Edith Wharton’s estate
Designed by the Pulitzer Prize winning author herself
With her eye for classical architecture and
Symmetry and
Clean lines and
Circular shapes
The grounds are extensive
And stunning
Filled with art
Whimsical and thought-provoking and somehow seeming right at home
In the woods
A tour of the house reveals
The luxury and freedom of wealth
Imagine breakfast in bed facing east
Time for morning pages
And walks through the Italian Renaissance garden
And French garden
And walkway lined with trees
And trips to Europe for years on end
And dinner at 8pm
The forest surrounding the house
Most definitely enchanted
Most definitely home to fairy queens
And tiny beings
A new favorite

The thrill that I can run 9 miles
On a Sunday morning
And go to work

The joy of shopping
Buck’s Rock style
Traipsing from shop to shop
Checking in on campers
Seeing the art and creativity in action
The way cardboard and fabric can be transformed
The way metal can be molded
The way entire world's can be created with a brushstroke 
Chatting with my fellow counselors

The thrill of playing in a pit band again
The joy of rehearsal
Of reading music
Of counting
Of figuring it all out

Being inspired by the creativity of the kids
A piece of yellow paper
Cut and twisted and folded
To look like a block of swiss cheese
The template for poetry

Opening Day!
The campers are here
The energy is palpable
The creativity is flowing
Summer has officially begun

I startle a deer eating breakfast in the tall grass
She bounds away, leaping through the air
The heft of her
She is magnificent
Such a deer!
I had seen her earlier with her fawn
Startled them both
The baby darted away
Mama following closely behind
I huff in the smell of the woods
The pine is my favorite
Bury me beneath a pine tree
So I can spend eternity
Buried in the hummus surrounding her trunk and
Blanketed in pine needles

My campers arrive tomorrow
Last bits of prep
Meeting agendas set
Door signs and name tags made
In the evening
A barbecue at sculpture
Toasting marshmallows on long sticks over the fire pit
The smell of smoke
The sound of laughter
The joy of friendship
Old and new