Manitou Beach

Campers being dropped off in front of the main building

Usually when I take Emil to Camp Easter Seal, there is a long, slow (because Emil is not speedy on his crutches) walk to his assigned cabin, lugging his baggage and bedding. Then there is the long, slow walk back to the dining area, where the campers are gathering for lunch and saying goodbye to their parents. Emil likes me to meet the three or four counsellors who are assigned to his cabin, and then gradually he is ready to let me leave.

Not this time, though. The luggage was loaded onto a wheeled cart, the counsellors introduced themselves, I went into the office to sign a waiver so that Emil could go tubing if he wanted, and a few minutes later when I joined them again in front of the dining room, I was dismissed.

"You can go now, Mom," he said. "I want you to go."

And so I collected a kiss goodbye and danced off to the Village Perk, where I always stop when in Manitou Beach, in hopes that the cook will have his excellent pecan pie on hand. Again he did not, and I kicked myself for not calling ahead and begging him to make it. That pie is worth 10 phone calls!

Instead I had a bowl of cream of broccoli soup (no crackers required) and hot cheese biscuits (you don't need butter when they melt in your mouth). That man can cook, I tell you. If I lived there I would gain back the 15 pounds I've lost over the past year or two.

They brew a mean cup of joe at the Village Perk, too.