It’s something in the air at Agawak, of this I am convinced, my first summer back on these grounds in 40 years. During my ten summers at Agawak as a girl, I made friends that remain my closest friends, decades later.

I am watching those bonds form every day between this generation.  The array of activities have changed – we didn’t have a colorful bouncy blob on the lake and there was no Lip Sync competition. The constant, the drumbeat of Agawak that is eternally unchanged are the deep and abiding friendships that form on the shores of Blue Lake.

Magic happens here today as it did during my camping days that started in the 1960s, as girls arise together, eat together, play together, compete against one another, and most of all, laugh together. You cannot walk anywhere at Camp Agawak without hearing that delicious peal of laughter coming from a huddle of girls.

(Often they need to be reminded to stop the giggling when it’s time for lights out and bed-- they are so excited to be together they don’t want to miss a moment of giddy togetherness.)

The campers love Agawak and love each other with the intensity – and endurance -- that we did. I observe the large group of CITs who have grown up together at Agawak and they often walk with arms looped and heads on each other’s shoulders as if they were one gigantic animal.

Sadly, I’m a one-session staff member this season, and on Sunday I return to my other life – four grown kids and one grown husband. I’m already excitedly planning for a comeback in the summer of 2015.

It’s the people that will bring me back, my new friends who have embraced me after too many years away. Your daughters, my Agawak girls, are already wedged in my heart.

-Iris