I recently attended my nephew’s Bar Mitzvah. What does that have to do with camp, you ask? The answer is simple: friendship. While summer camp can seem to be about activities, instruction or facilities, it is really about the people. My brother, who will turn 50 in a few months, had five camp friends from the 70’s and early 80’s at his son’s Bar Mitzvah, one who flew from California to Boston to be there, and several who were actually at his own Bar Mitzvah in 1977. My nephew also had camp friends celebrating with him, some of whom, no doubt, will be there many years from now when he celebrates other milestones.

Camp friends become family. When advising clients I am often asked, “How do I decide among all these great camps?” “It’s about the people,” I reply. And I mean it.