Music Week at Caswell

 This morning as I was in the car heading to the grocery store, I had the radio on and was listening to one of the religious stations.  I don't always agree with their ideologies, but I do enjoy their music most of the time.  Their Saturday morning programs are geared towards children. And today was no different.  They were singing a song about giving based on 2 Corinthians 9:6. It was a cute song, almost annoyingly so, but the more I listened to it, it reminded me of a lot of the songs we would sing at the children's music week at Caswell.  

Fort Caswell is located on the coast of North Carolina.  It was purchased by the NC Baptist State Convention in 1949 for use as a retreat.  When I was growing up, they had different weeks of camps all during the summer.  Our church always participated in the music weeks, both children's and youth. The first time I went there was the summer of 1984. At first, I did not want to go as I had never been away from home on my own before, not even to spend the night with someone.  Oh well.  But once I got there, I loved it.  The days were filled with choir practice, going to the pool and the beach, playing games, exploring the old forts.  I'm not sure if you can still do that today, or if the old forts are even there, but we had a ball doing it. The house we stayed in the first few years that I went there was by the canal.  Mr. Reich warned us never to go into the canal because there was a huge drop because of the barges that came through and we would get pulled under.  That was enough to keep me away, even if I didn't swim at all LOL

Mr. Reich would take us out to dinner one night to a seafood place.  I remember that was the first time I had fried clam strips.  Otherwise, our meals were at the cottage prepared by the chaperones. At the end of the week, we would put on a concert of the music we had learned.  Then we'd head out for ice cream.  On Saturday morning, we'd pack up and head back to Monroe.  I was always glad I went.  When I went as a youth, they had handbells and I did that every summer.  We seem to get into more mischief as youth, but that is to be expected.  For several years, Grandmother and Frances Vaughan were the youth chaperones.  They had been going for years as chaperones, so that was an added bonus for me.

Anyway, that is where my mind went this morning as I drove to the grocery store. Back to a week filled with sun, sand, music and friends.  Those were good times.  A nice stroll down memory lane, indeed.