Dear Boundless Families:
What can be better for a outdoor school than a sunny August 5th in the Madawaska Valley, where the fish are jumping and the cotton’s high?
An empty outdoor school, that’s what.
The livin is easy (ish).
All four cohorts are gonzo getting schooled in the woods. Your kids are shooting rapids, fending off deer flies, struggling through portages, scaring every trace of wildlife with their hollers, and collapsing on their pillows each night after an evening of gaming and de-briefing how they can be even better tomorrow. They know each other’s quirks intimately by now. There is mostly a family-like bond happening, in a way that old folks like you and I can only dream of achieving with relative strangers with a mere 8 day head start, Mini-meltdowns, if any, are probably met with refrains like, “chill out dude”, we gotcha.
I encountered Sterling’s group on Sunday after their return from Algonquin Park. I was amazed to be greeted so squarely by the kids, firm handshakes with penetrating eye contact. They felt like future white collar workers at a golf course, and I was dumbfounded because so many of this group approached the bus on day 1 ready to crawl into a cave.
Sterling (Freshmen’s trip leader), with his notoriously calm demeanour – indeed, he would make Perry Como look animated – shrugs off the question from me “Do you need any support”.
“Nah, its all good. Some kids need need a little kick in the ass at times, lovin other times”. We’re heading out down the Madawaska tomorrow (which would be Monday), raring to go.”
I rendezvous with two cohorts (Juniors and Seniors – the two oldest) tomorrow at Lac (French for lake) Robinson, a place of calm on the Dumoine River in a future storm of rapids just downstream. I will bear chocolate gifts – seems to be the treat of the season for 2014 – and hang out with both groups, perhaps switching from one to the other, ultimately choosing one to descend to the bottom with. Which, I guess, makes me a bona fide cohort slut.
As such, I will have some juicy gossip for my final update, probably coming Friday after the four groups have returned safely to port.
A wonderful session is happening. The weather is cooperating, as are your kids.
Warmly,
Steven
