Day 5 | When It's All Been Said

When it’s all been said and done, I think this summer will take me a while to fully understand. Today is Day 5 in Sitka, but it is also Day 5 of our twelfth and final STEAM in the PARK camp of the summer. Twelve camps. So many miles. Mountains, oceans, forests, rivers, rain, sunshine, bears, salmon, otters, loons, laughter, Legos, ridiculous Adaptations Auction animals, songs, conversations, and people. So many people who started as strangers and somehow became friends.

Last night we held our final Firefly Ceremony of the summer and welcomed 12 newbies into our STEAM in the PARK family. I looked around that room and thought about how many times we have done this throughout the summer, and yet it never feels routine. Watching people who took a chance and showed up on Day 1 become part of this crazy little family by Day 4 gets me every time. Twelve more people now understand the traditions, the inside jokes, the laughter, and the friendships that happen when we spend a few days learning and exploring together. Friends for life.

This morning we will eat one last breakfast, gather for one last session, hug each other, pick up our bags, and head in different directions. I have been ready for this day because I am tired and I miss home, but now that it is here, I am nostalgic for a summer that isn't even quite over yet. I know there are pieces of these twelve camps that I will still be unpacking long after the suitcases are emptied and put away.

There are a few song lyrics running through my head this morning. “When it’s all been said and done…” feels like the obvious one. And then there is that familiar pull of “Country roads, take me home.” After a summer spent going from one beautiful place to another, those few words feel different today. I have loved where this road has taken us, but I am ready for the road that takes me home.

And now, home. Home to connect with my family again. Home to hear all the stories I missed while I was collecting stories of my own. Home to sleep in my own bed, sit in familiar spaces, hug the people I love, and be thankful. Thankful that I get to do this work, thankful for every person who trusted us with part of their summer, thankful for Steve beside me through every mile of it, and thankful that after all of this traveling and doing and giving, there is a home and a family waiting for me.

We don't know what next season holds. There are questions we can't answer yet and roads we can't see from where we are standing. For someone who always wants to know what comes next, that isn't always an easy place to be. But I am grounded in the fact that this season mattered. These twelve camps mattered. These people mattered. The learning mattered. The friendships mattered. The moments when someone tried something new, found their people, remembered why they became an educator, or simply stood still long enough to notice the world around them mattered. Whatever comes next cannot change what happened here.

When it’s all been said and done, I know I will remember the places. I will remember the views and the wildlife and those moments when I stopped long enough to realize where my feet actually were. But mostly, I will remember the people. The ones who laughed with us, learned with us, sang with us, walked beside us, and became part of our story this summer.

The suitcases will get unpacked. The laundry will get done. The pictures will eventually be sorted. My body will catch up on sleep, and I suspect my heart will spend a little longer catching up with everything that happened between the first camp and this last morning in Sitka.

I don't know what the next season will look like, and today I don't need to. I know what this one was. I know what it meant. I know that we were here, together, and we made it count.

And now I get to go home and, for just a little while, be where my feet are.