I’ll tell you a story (I learned how to do this at Primitive Pursuits!) Let me set the scene: Imagine you are sitting on a log. It’s hot, sticky and you just got bit by a small bug, add it to the collection of 13 on your leg. You hear soft drumming started by Wren as they start to pat their leg to set the beat for the opening song. “Home I’m going home, I need the land to heal my soul…” The song ends. 

Everyone begins to clap as another week has just finished. The small, wooden Appreciations Box makes it’s around the circle. You take a few pieces of the multicolored paper and pass it to your neighbor. Wren points to you to begin reading aloud the anonymous notes scribbled on the pieces…

Thank you Primitive Pursuits for teaching me that I belong. Thank you for holding the space to be unapologetically who I am.

Thank you Primitive Pursuits for acknowledging the people before us who inhabited and utilized the land prior to our presence. I appreciate your self-awareness and your ability to adapt.

Thank you Primitive Pursuits for creating a safe, supportive and fun environment for staff and campers to work and play in.

Thank you Primitive Pursuits for encouraging life-long learning in everyone you meet. You foster a curiosity and vulnerability that is enlivening.

That was your last sheet. You stop. Your neighbor begins reading theirs.

Thank you Primitive Pursuits for presenting opportunities in personal and professional development. Your awareness for the potential growth in others is incredible.

Thank you Primitive Pursuits…

Your neighbor stops reading and leans towards you and points to the hard to read handwriting sprawled across the paper…

You help them (because that’s what we do here).

Thank you Primitive Pursuits for taking time to foster growth in everyone who comes in contact with you.

THE END

I almost did not apply for this job. I felt I didn’t belong and was inexperienced. What I learned at Primitive Pursuits was the opposite. I did belong and what I didn’t know, the Primitive Pursuits community would teach me. I learned so much about who I am and the space that I hold. This card (below) was made as an exercise when I was feeling untethered in new surroundings. It serves as a reminder of where I was in a chapter that is now closed. I am so appreciative to have had the opportunity to plant my roots and grow with the Primitive Pursuits community. Thank you.

Liz Holland, Summer Camp