tag out.

My infamous black duffel and red toiletries bags are ready to roll again. We're not going too terribly far-- just home. My time at Johnsonburg has come to a close, and it's time to tag out.

For those of you reading this who are not "camp people", we use the phrase "tag out" specifically when talking about leaving our pool area. Campers have little plastic tags color coded by age with their names on them, which they use to "tag in" to the pool upon arrival to help the lifeguards keep an accurate head count. On summer afternoons, you can hear the lifeguards and counselors yell "tag out" every 45 minutes as one free swim period ends and the next one is about to begin. We also tend to say it at the end of each week or the whole summer as staff leave for a little while or a long while.

And so, today I tag out. My first summer on staff was 2003 after completing the Leadership Training Program the summer before. I worked as a counselor, a kitchen staff person, preseason staff, and in the office. I've been a small group facilitator for offseason retreats and lead the nature and arts and crafts programs. I think I hold the record for health center night duty, especially this summer, as all six of our ER runs were driven by yours truly. I have staff shirts in every color of the rainbow from the past 10 years. I've met a lot of incredible people and seen a lot of beautiful things.

This place has been my Walden. I came back last summer after a couple summers of retirement to work in the kitchen, with the intention of working on my Master's thesis. It took much longer than the summer to finish that paper and get that degree, but I made the right decision by putting myself back in such a loving, encouraging community. I've loved living in Lakeside, a two room cabin that sits at the edge of the lake, with sunshine pouring in my bedroom windows in the morning.

But it's time to tag out, and I'm sad. I know this isn't the end of my relationship with Johnsonburg, but it is a definite transition in the way I am connected here. It's not helping that the three kittens who I rescued from the woods here, who have been keeping me company for the past couple of months, are going to new homes, just one more piece of the puzzle to say goodbye to. At least two are staying in my extended family, and one is with a camp person.

All that aside, I know I'll be back, and probably soon. It's going to feel a little different. I quickly got used to living in the woods by myself (well, plus or minus a few kittens and human visitors). The leaves are just starting to change. I could probably make some really excellent comparisons to the transition of seasons and the transition of my own life, Master's in hand, looking forward to the next adventure, but I won't. Instead, I'm going to just look forward to finding the peace and love and joy that this place has given me in other places, and look forward to that adventure. And also--

tag out.