Soapbox

So I’ve got this kid…only not so much a kid, anymore.

Once again it is summer-camp time. This year my son decided that, instead of going to good old YMCA Camp Willson, he wanted to try something different.
We went to a special "Summer Fair" this spring to check out the different possibilities. The room was packed with tables from various groups and organizations with information and displays about their programs.
"Oh look here Stephen, there’s a camp where you get to work on a farm…and here’s one where you go to Canada and canoe for 2 weeks.." I said.
"Hey, here’s something called "The Summer Institute for the Gifted"! What do you think?" his Dad asked.

Not much, apparently. Stephen ignored us and, giving the displays only a passing glance, wandered off by himself. I wondered if anything was going to catch his fancy here, or if we would have to talk him into something. But a few minutes later, he was at my side, pushing some papers into my hands.
"Look what I found, Mom! Look! I want to go here!"
Wow, something he’s excited about! I allowed myself to be towed off through the crowd, and soon was standing before a display for summer camp at The Wilds.
Of course.

The Wilds is a unique and wonderful place in central Ohio. It consists of 14 square miles of reclaimed strip mine, now turned into rolling grassy hills dotted with small lakes. Large tracts have been fenced in and where bulldozers once roamed you can now find giraffe, rhinocerous and symitar-horned orax, to name just a few. They breed and study unique and endangered animals in as close to natural surroundings as you’re going to find in the mid-west. Our family visited there a few years ago and were very impressed with their program.
And now, for the first year, they were offering week-long study programs at The Wilds, and, as naturally as day follows night, Stephen wanted to go. I glanced through their brochure: habitat maintenance, making a naturalist’s field guide, dendrology, herpetology, orienteering, navigating by the stars, pond life, grassland birds…holy cow! Stephen’s dream camp! Instead of fishing and swatting mosquitos at Camp Willson, he could study ictheology and entemology! And what an opportunity for a Boy Of Science, who recently announced that he wants to be a nature photographer, like his grandad!

So of course we signed him up, and yesterday we packed the car and headed east through the hazy July heat to The Wilds.
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