What is Family?

Person 3: As adults, we are all failed babies…Family!

Person 1: Family is the root of our being. It is how I orient myself to the world.

Person 2: There is the family I started from and the one I formed along the
way.

Person 3: Beyond the traditional family of who you are related to by birth,
marriage or adoption, family is people you are connected to by close
friendship… My group of close friends from camp are my sisters. We’ve grown
up together.

All: Acceptance, nurture and love

Person 3: are at the heart of family. Biological connection often provides the
impetus for acceptance, nurture, and love. But shared experiences deepen
these bonds and provide opportunities to enlarge that circle of we.

All: that circle of we

Person 1: Shared experiences open us to others, revealing that genetic

connections are not even essential for family.

Person 2: Maintaining… connection to the interdependent web of existence

requires deliberate effort…. a mutual and accepting embrace that allows the
dancers to become the dance.

Person 3: Family is the space where the steps of these dances are expressed
and explored. The dancers are family

Person 1: who stomp somberly or traipse lightly together,

Person 2: who fall in and out of rhythm but push on resolutely together.

Person 3: Family are those who remain in relation even after our broken
edges are revealed.

All: Family

Person 1: are those… individuals who recognize, love, support, and accept one
another even after knowing the depths of our own needs.
 First time at Camp?

Person 1: I’ve had privilege for being a member of this web of people who I
love and who love me for over 40 years. 1st time, I was 11 years old. Now I’m
54.

Person 2: I first came after a divorce. I brought [my daughters] to kiddie camp
in 1975. I was the camp’s nurse that week. And then we came to Thanksgiving
Camp, our first Thanksgiving just the 3 of us. I met [my second husband] here.
We were four again and spent many weekend camps and work days here,
building connections, extended family—a place to just be.

Person 3: The first time I came to camp was with my wife, her sister and two
nieces, and her elderly mother, for family camp, in 1998?... I[‘d] missed the
mountains.

Person 4: I first came here with three small children and they had freedom
that they didn’t have at home.

Person 5: My parents brought me to camp when I was 6 in 1969 to family

camp. My dad was head of the Burbank Fellowships Youth program and he
was given a scholarship to bring his family.

Person 6: I worked here so my kids could come, because I couldn’t afford it

otherwise. And I remember the first time I Deaned a kiddie camp, when the
bus pulled away with all the kids after the camp was over, I turned around and
threw up.

Person 7: I came here because my husband said, “Alright, we’re going to go to

a camp I went to as a kid with all my old camp friends that you don’t know at
all and we’re going to bring our toddlers and sleep in bunk-beds and hangout
with your in-laws all week and it’s going to be super fun!” And at first I was
like “Uh, what?” but I’ve grown to love it over time. Now I’M the one who’s
saying “So, we’re going to go to camp, right?”

Person 8: I first came to… camp [as] a product of my parents’ divorce. My

mom could finally feel free to send me to her childhood camp. I was sure she
was sending me away to be with her boyfriend. I was determined to HATE it.
The week was a great experience, meeting new people, finding myself & a new
seed of confidence in the silly games we played and the nature hikes. My mom
was brave & took a leap of faith and sent me anyway. This place is part of me. I
went into it kicking and screaming.
 What is Camp?

Person 1: Camp is both a place and the people

Person 2: Camp is a time of renewal and community.

Person 3: Old friends & new,

Person 1: gathering to relax and enjoy one another’s company in nature.

Person 2: Camp is creative crowdsourcing to put life,

Person 3: love,

Person 1: music and peace

Person 2: back in our lives.

Person 3: DeBeneville Pines is family—extended, without the intrusion of

schedule & must do’s; a village of “free range” children of all ages, following
their bliss, looking out for each other

Person 1: DeBeneville Pines is meditation—through beading, listening,

worship, music improvisation, laughter, drumming, circling, breathing,
reminiscing.

Person 2: DeBeneville Pines is intergenerational and transgeneration.

Memories intersecting are passed on.

Person 1: Camp is an intentional community for a limited time. Magical &

annoying (as people are).

Person 2: Camp is long-term connections and instant community.

Person 3: Camp is nostalgia, laughter, old friends, and new ones. It is the
late nights playing cards. Huge, warm hugs. Camp is a safe mountain
sanctuary when my children can roam free. This place is family. It is a safe
haven for all.

All: Camp is both a place and the people.

 Best things about camp?

Person 1: This morning Rev. Frank talked about ecstasy—stepping

outside of routing, the grind, what is experienced by habit.
DeBeneville Pines is ecstasy—both stepping outside but also inside
the self that plays, pays attention, lives with all senses, remembers
to notice beauty.

Person 2: Being able to spend time as you wish. There are always
plenty of activities to choose from, or you can be alone with
nature…. Just being up in the mountains, away from everything is
great.

Person 3: The best thing about camp is making friends

Person 1: and eating food

Person 1: The no-talent talent show!

Person 2: Talent show night (or maybe no-talent night). It was fun to
do it together and be creative

Person 3: I like to sing Circle Game and watch the kids play & dance.

Person 1: I always look forward to hiking, folk dancing, yoga, and

singing. Dressing up for the banquet is another favorite because
some people are crazy creative. I look forward to seeing different
interpretations of the theme.

Person 2: The affection…really…one of the most favorite parts is the

touching, hugging, ability to be in contact. It is a bliss. It is love. It is
family… This camp is one of a kind.

Person 3: My kids can be “free range” with their friends. It’s a safe
environment for them to explore on their own, and they can have
more freedom than at home.
Person 1: I know the perimeter like the back of my hand.

Person 2: Being part of a smaller religious tradition… Coming to

camp reminds us that we ARE part of a larger community.

Person 3: Every year, we gather 3 generations of family, disconnect

from work and our day-to-day grind to take in nature and enjoy
family & friends.

Person 1: Unplugging [is the] BEST!

Person 2: [The] best of family camp is doing familiar & new things
with familiar & new people.

Person 3: I love being with dear friends and doing some things year
after year, while it is still different every time.

Person 1: The best part was the friendships I made; people who
accepted me for who I was. I feel so comforted coming back here and
knowing that people accept me the same, even after my failures.

Person 2: DeBeneville is a special place that has been integrated into

the fabric of who we are. This is my 12th of consecutive family
camps. People come and go but the spirit of camp moves forward.

Person 1: Every time I come to camp I’m cognizant of how special

this is, that this might be the last time it’s all three generations of us
here.

Person 3: I come to be in this space with family, mine and yours.

 Memories

Person 1: I remember doing an alternative Cinderella story skit at the talent

show the last night of camp. My daughter was in it too. I was the Fairy
Godmother and lead all the little fairies around the room.

Person 2: I remember hiking in the snow to the rope swing with a group of
friends and a couple guys swinging, letting go, & falling in the snow.

Person 3: [I remember] sleeping on the porch of Cabin 7 (at the age of 6)

with the other kids—no parents

Person 1: [I remember] when I was in high school, a bunch of us were in

front of the fireplace in the lodge. It must have been Christmas Camp. I was
laying on the floor and got the most amazing massage from six people. One
person was massaging each body part: arms, legs, head, and back. It was
truly better than a professional could do.

Person 2: I’ve been coming to camp since 1974, and I’ve never tie-dyed

Person 1: I met my wife here, proposed to her here…How’s that for a

memory?

Person 3: I went to every camp possible until I graduated from High School.
I couldn’t get enough of it.

Person 1: I can imagine my 13 year old daughter sitting here on this porch
30 years from now … she’ll have to convince her spouse though… or not!

Person 3: Things got weird in the ‘70s…I remember walking into a women’s
weekend for the first time

Person 2: It’s gotten tamer over time, there are more rules, it’s definitely
more UU now.

Person 3: For a while there was a bit of a tension over how UU the camp
should be, or what family is.

Person 2: But I think that’s mostly worked out now.

Person 4: There is the history – the many significant experiences that I had
here as a young person, a child (really) and a teenager. There is a bond built
with so many and I still feel it in my bones, my heart, my brain. I can feel the
openness that I experienced in the ‘70s. It is different, but enough the same,
and the differences are how time marches forward. There is the acceptance
I witness. The values of caring for the earth, respect for all people and the
ability and willingness for many to go deep on any topic—and I mean any
topic: boys, acne, bathing suits, husbands, children, French kiss(ing),
menstruation, masturbation, pubic hair, aging, loving, memories, learning,
driving, wrinkles, sex, nudity, alcohol, communication, hard times,
parenting, loss, grief, passing… Am I finding the right words[?]