Sing....Sing a Song

Some of my favorite memories from growing up happened in one of two places:  Mingus Mountain Church Camp on Mingus Mountain in Arizona....or the Family Social Center at First United Methodist Church of Mesa, AZ.  And the thing that is at the heart of these memories...is the singing with my friends....from this song book.  :)

A blast from the past.  The song book used at camp and youth groups at FUMC!!!  Oh the memories!  And now it is mine!

The summer going into 3rd grade was my first year to attend church camp up on top of Mingus Mountain in central AZ.  It was my first whole week by myself...away from my family...and while there were moments of feeling homesick...it was such an amazing experience that I went back year after year.  Some favorite memories from those years are: the summer monsoon storms, the hikes to the Point to look out at the valley below, the boys from the next door cabin getting underneath our cabin and scaring my cabin to death by making sounds like javelinas, meeting new friends, the nightly campfires and seeing the milky way, meal times, ....and the singing at La Pointe Hall.  

Julie and me in the meadow

Closing moments from Sr. High Camp

One girl, a Miss KC Bennett, I met when I was in 4th grade as we were in the same cabin.  We went to rival churches (yes...there is such a thing...especially when volleyball titles are on the line) and dated several of the same guys in high school and college....and decades later, we're still friends.  Other friendships that already existed were further solidified during a week at camp.

FUMC girls!

Good friends!

I even got to be a cabin assistant at Elementary Camp when I was in high school....

Cabin Assistants

...and attended several Family Camps that my church held for its members in the fall.

Family Camp my sophomore year in College

  

And those are just the pictures and memories of church camp.  The memories of youth group at First Mesa could fill a novel.  The point, however, is that all of these memories...even smells or specific feelings...are all brought back immediately when I hear specific songs that are connected with these places.  "Rocky Mountain High", "Humble Thyself", "One Tin Soldier", "Pass It On", "I am the Resurrection", "Shine Jesus Shine", "All God's Creatures Got a Place in the Choir", "Rise and Shine", "Pharaoh, Pharaoh", "The Austrian Song", "Here I am, Lord", "Seek Ye First", "The Garden Song"....the thought of these instantly brings a smile to my lips and I happily recall fond memories as I start to sing the song.  

Which leads me to Jeffery.  I have yet to live some place where 1) the Catholic Church I attend has a strong youth program that ISN'T Life Teen (I shudder at the very thought of that program)...or a youth program at all and 2) a retreat spot like Mingus Mountain where yearly church camps occur.  I used to just shake my head and marvel at the lost opportunity but now...with Jeffery entering the world, I am starting to despair at the lack of these things.  Granted.....we have YEARS before he even gets to these milestones but still...  I have even, for one brief afternoon, dreamed up how I could buy land in the Blue Ridge and create my own camp for kids to come to each summer.  If worse comes to worse, I'll just fly Jeffery to AZ and Grandma and Grandpa can make the drive up to Mingus and drop him off for a week.  

But in the meantime....I can at least teach him the songs of my childhood and teen years.  I think I'll start with "Pharaoh, Pharaoh".....  :)