The Perfect Recipe

Living out of town, while scenic and beautiful, offers challenges too numerous to mention; actually, too numerous to even anticipate in many cases as I'm realizing each day with each new challenge. But one of the challenges I realized right off was the ease with which one could feel isolated even though town lies a fairly quick 13 miles north via the interstate. With the approach of fall last year, I discovered that many of the items on my to-do list would have to wait for warm weather leaving me looking ahead at many months of potential doldrums. Thinking about how I might become connected to something greater than myself (without joining a church), I decided to list some of my favorite things to see if I could cook something up. I came up with a few simple ingredients: reading, friends, cooking, and laughing. Throwing these into a pot gave me the perfect recipe for winter wellness: a book club.

Later that week, I pitched the idea to two friends who were eager to buy in. We each invited a friend, then one of the friends invited another friend giving us an uneven total of 7 members. Our first meeting ended with a book list and a schedule of whose house we would meet at each month. And of course, the most important item, as Carol reminded, "refreshments--and they are not optional". And so it is--we read, we meet, we discuss and debate, then we eat--in that order!

In May when our highly successful season ended with a dinner at my house, we all felt a bit disappointed that we wouldn't have a reason to meet during the summer. In response, I suggested we rent a campground in The Little Belt Mountains for a weekend where we can debrief, plan for the next season, play games, hike, and basically enjoy an adult "going to summer camp" experience.

Ever since the mid 1990s when I played the role of Activity Director at a kid's grief camp I thought the camp experience was something that should not be exclusively for kids. My mantra in those days was, "there oughta be a camp for grownups, too". This idea became especially evident after spending a week with sad and angry kids who within hours of arriving became the happiest kids on the planet. "Just think how happy overstressed adults might feel after a few days here", I would say. Fast forward a decade or so and I finally discovered the magic for myself.

The seven of us rented the very same campground used for the grief camp. Sitting on a 20-acre clearing surrounded by pines with Belt Creek running through and the mountain rising behind, the main lodge smack in the middle with a dozen cabins scattered around, we set up our First Annual Page Turner's Book Camp. And now I know how something as simple as camp can turn a grieving child into a happy one who on the last day swears she will return again and again. On our last hour while packing up our ton of leftovers, we too swore to return again and again. As we headed back to town, we stopped at the bookstore searching for our first book, wanting to hurry and get them all read, discussed and debated, eat Carol's mandatory refreshments, then plan for our Second Annual Page Turner's Book Camp. And so it is--the perfect recipe for the winter doldrums.