The patio lights glowed softly above the Firefly deck as music played quietly in the background. Nearby, a campfire crackled while a group of campers gathered around it, making s’mores and holding popsicle sticks in their hands.
Before the sticks went into the fire, each camper was invited to write down a wish.
It was one of the final moments of their week at Camp Joy.
Throughout the summer, cabin closings can look very different. Some cabins end their week around a fire. Others celebrate with a pool party. Some spread blankets across the grass and look up at the stars. Different unit leads create stations for cabins to visit, each offering something a little different: joy, reflection, inspiration or simply a chance to be together one more time.
The activities may change, but the purpose is the same. Before campers pack their bags and return home, we want to give them space to recognize what the week meant.
For Caroline, a unit lead on Camp Joy’s summer staff, that meant creating a quiet place at Firefly where campers could slow down after a week filled with activity.
Caroline knows that sometimes the moments children remember most aren’t the biggest ones.
Earlier in the summer, she spent time with a cabin of older girls who were having a difficult week. Caroline took them on a night hike and gave them an opportunity to connect outside of their normal routine.
“It just made me realize how easy it is to make memories for these kids and how something small to me can be so big to them,” Caroline said.
That idea sits at the heart of a cabin closing.
Camp is full of big experiences. Campers climb, swim, explore, laugh, try new things and discover what they are capable of. But growth also happens in the quieter spaces, when someone asks you to think about what you learned, what you hope for or what you want to carry with you when you leave.
For some campers, a week at Camp Joy may have been a chance to feel more confident. For others, it may have been the friendships they formed or the feeling of being part of a cabin where they could simply be themselves.
As Caroline has learned through three summers at Camp Joy, meeting children in those moments starts with accepting them exactly as they arrive.
“They come to camp as they are and we have to accept them that way,” she said.
And at the end of the week, we also get to recognize who they are becoming.
Maybe that is why something as simple as writing a wish on a popsicle stick can matter. For a few minutes, a camper gets to sit beside a fire and think about what comes next. Then they place their wish into the flames, surrounded by people who shared this week with them.
Have you ever had a small moment stay with you long after you expected it to?
That is what cabin closings give our campers: one last opportunity to make a memory before goodbye.
We may never know which moment they will hold onto. It might be the pool party, the stars overhead, the taste of one last s’more or the wish they wrote beside a campfire. As Caroline discovered, a small act can become something much bigger when it reaches someone at the moment they need it.
And perhaps that is one of the most meaningful parts of Camp Joy. We don’t just want children to leave remembering what they did here. We hope they leave carrying something with them: a little more confidence, a new connection, a sense of belonging or simply a memory that reminds them there is joy waiting to be found wherever they go.