Recap: "July Never Seemed So Strange" through "Goodnight Irene"

Well, predictably I did a terrible job of keeping this blog over the summer. To be honest, I did a pretty terrible job of keeping in touch with everyone, including my family. But since my summer is over, a little recap.

 When we last left our heros it was early July and we were doing what we always do: playing guitars and singing, rowing boats at sunset, and working too much. Open-Up work gradually turned into regular season and I transitioned from managing large groups of volunteers on the weekends to supervising a crew of seven and two to twenty volunteers every day. It was an exciting year! Lots of old friends came to visit, lots of exciting new friends were made. We had parties with themes that ranged from "Fred Loves Boats," to the "Stone Age Rage," with "Robots and Zombies," "Ke$ha and Condiments," a couple great bands, and a particularly epic Pirate Party. The softball team went 11-1. Two friends and I were invited to brunch at Appledore island across the harbor. And I dressed up as Michael Jackson (sort of) and sang "Billy Jean" in front of a whole conference. Twice.

 Maybe because I wasn't directly involved with the day to day workings of the conference this year, but the summer seemed to fly by. All my free time was spent making arrangements for next year or running away from the island to go swimming on the other side of the harbor. My job had me working a little bit of everywhere, from the Bakery to the Front Desk, from serving meals as a waiter to covering for the head waiter (my friend Luke, for those who have been following this story for a while) on his days off. Being so involved allowed me to make some great new friends

Here's Owen, Morgan, and Allie falling asleep on the kitchen counter. I think this was after the Ke$ha party. This is probably after we were all attacked with tons of glitter.

And Matt and me being really good pirates. Allie took this picture. She was a pink pirate and I was an orange pirate. It's kind of like Power Rangers. Right? This was before we were all attacked with squirt guns and powdered sugar.

 Morgan left early, and Owen was next to go. Allie's still out there now, and Matt and I stayed just long enough to be evacuated for Hurricane Irene. The Irene evac wasn't quite the adventure that Earl was last year, but the hurricane was a lot worse. Fortunately the island didn't sustain much damage at all. This time the storm mostly went west of us. Allie and Matt and I weathered the storm in Boston.

Mid August Annaliese and I took a very quick trip to NYC. We were in the city for something like 30 hours but I got to see a lot of friends and enjoy the complete turnaround from life on a 40 acre island with a population of 400 on a good day, back to one of the largest and busiest cities in the world. Plus I got to see a bunch of you guys one last time before I make the trip across the pond, even if it was only for a couple minutes (Theresa!).

I was very happy with this summer. It's such a special place - out of time, in a way. But it can be very isolating. My best years there have been years when I had definite life plans for after the summer was over, and that was certainly true for this year. Grad school is coming together, and I'll talk about that more later. But this was a really lovely summer, and I'm glad for such a good centering experience before I head off into the great unknown.