Dear Boundless Families:
Safe and sound, your kids arrived to a brilliant sky and an exquisite summer breeze that makes you pine to be young again, tasting everything for the first time.
For the past 4 hours, their fears and shyness have been eroding like an Arctic ice pack.
I just popped by both groups to get the lay of the land and report back.
The younger group is this amazing cacophony of hormones. The massive and the teeny, the jock and the nerd, the restless and the shy; all are blending in like they arrived home to their own kitchens to raid the cookie jar and the pie on the window sill. Now don’t have a coronary, but they are already volunteering to do chores.
Two local Palmer Rapid’s kids joined the younger crew – a delightful dynamic that is shedding a humorous interplay between the rural and urban. The kids were talking about the local critters. Indeed, the bunnies and groundhogs and squirrels and deer run rampant in this summer rain-fed bounty, and the city kids were oohing and ahhing about how adorable and precious they are.
V. a precocious Palmer gal, deadpans, ” Well, I shot Bambi! Boom. Venison steaks anybody?”
These shy and polite teens have walked into the unknown. They will be exposed to so much novelty. The younger crew has already jumped into the rapids and tonight, they will fool around in the climbing barn. An theme is emerging in the group – “The Wild Bunch”. I’ll tell you more about what this exactly means when they themselves know what it means.
The older crew should be cast in a Monty Python movie. Funny walks, quirks and quick witted one liners are adding flavour to this unique stew of teenagers. Now that the new students have realized that you have not consigned them to some kind of concentration camp – they are just starting to let their hair down. This will take a few days. The older crew just took off for the rapids and a barby dinner overlooking a small waterfall. Sounds rough, doesn’t it.
So, for those parents on eggshells – its all good so far. For those others that are prancing around naked in their empty homes celebrating 13 days of liberty from teenagers – well, have fun!
A few things to consider:
The first few days are the critical time of this program. Its when buy-in happens. It’s when anxiety melts away. This cannot be forced. Things have started so well, we have every reason to feel emboldened by such a wonderful first day.
The water levels are insane right now because of record rainfall. This will require some programming and safety adjustments. But be assured your kids will return elitist river snobs who will forever look down upon lake people. This is as it should be.
I will be in touch every three of four days with email updates like this one. If you don’t hear from us, all is well.
Such an auspicious beginning to what we hope will be a fantastic first session.
Thanks for sending us your kids.
Steven
[email protected]
