So, Canada, Eh?

Family Camp
Originally uploaded by jmsmall2005.

Sunday, August 5: We pulled into camp on Saturday afternoon, full of tales of camps gone by, courtesy of Jason. These are tales I've heard told for, what, five years? and it was pretty great to finally visit the mythical Cedardale Nazarene Camp. The Smalls owned a "cottage" on the camp for 17 straight summers, until they sold it last year. We joined Jason's parents for the weekend, settling into a little rented cottage and visiting with old friends at "Tuck"--the post-chapel food-fest at the dining hall.

Jason hadn't been to camp for about four years, so we got a lot of "congratulations on your marriage, we saw wedding pictures, it's nice to finally meet you" from all the camp-friends. There was even a nice rehash of the karaoke night from four years ago that I've been hearing about every time "Long December" plays on the ipod.

One of the nicest parts of the weekend was spending a bit of time sitting on the porch with Jason's parents, visiting with people as they passed by. We hadn't seen Jason's folks since Mother's Day, so it was especially nice to have time to hang out and talk in the evenings. I'm so glad I've finally been able to experience this piece of Jason's life. Now I can nod and wink knowingly when camp tales come up again.