September 26, 2014

By Asa Gallagher

September Rituals

Summer camp directors live by a schedule that is quite the opposite to most of the people they work with in the summer. As the season winds down, campers and staff are preparing to go back to school or work, while we are preparing for what is typically the quietest time of our year – September.  Oh how I love the slower pace of this beautiful month on Cape Cod.  In my fourth year now as Burgess Director, I see clearly that this great month is a time of much needed and very predictable rituals for me.  To put it quite simply, September is my own little “summer” vacation.

I begin to make art again, and for me that means scouring the Cape for unique items to work with. I go searching in our maintenance yard here at camp, the pathways along the canal, the fringes of local beaches etc.  My kids think I’m obsessed with picking up and bringing home strange items from the ground. I start exercising again.  I run on the canal, bike into Mashpee, and look for anything I can do a chin-up on.  I take my kids to any beach I can find and skip hundreds of rocks.  I drive around town on cool evenings and show them all the old houses in Sandwich.  I talk to as many neighbors on Stowe Road as I can.  I start watching sports again, especially the Pats.  I use my fire pit at Triangle House for the first time all year.  Shane and Sophie help collect sticks and pine needles.  I sit on Triangle Beach at dusk and do nothing but relax.  Shane is often sitting next to me, looking out at the sky, and claiming to know there is a storm coming.  When you’re that cute you can lay claim to many ridiculous things.

Whatever acts of renewal or personal wellbeing you may have of your own, I truly hope you are all enjoying this splendid time of year.