I mentioned the book Flow over Parents’ Weekend, and subsequently have been thinking of the delineation between pleasure and enjoyment as outlined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I was prompted to take up the topic after reading the latest blog post from Spain detailing the segment of the Santiago el Camino pilgrimage Proctor students recently walked over three days.

This is the sign: lumpy black bags (huge bags) slung across shoulders, sometimes a stick with new tape, always a smile. Alone, or in groups of two and three, they migrate to the low-slung building at the west end of campus. The Ted is open, the ice is down, and players find their way to free skates in the early evening hours.

On Monday I watched the schooner Roseway cast off in Gloucester to cheers, a cannon roaring, and parents snapping pictures. Another signature off-campus program launched, this one representing our 21st year of going to sea with Proctor students. It was a picture perfect afternoon – weather, wind, and spirits – and the Roseway hoisted sails and slipped into golden harbor light.

In the second week of classes, I have been thinking about relationships as I watch the shifting social landscape of Proctor that teeters, dissolves, and rebuilds. Somewhere on campus, life-long friendships are just beginning, somewhere a social group evolves with new players coming in and old ones exiting. Most of the time this process is healthy, some of the time it is not. It’s a significant part of the adolescent landscape.

The bell.

Walk up the stairs in Maxwell Savage and there’s the rope, like a thick mooring line tethering us to something important. For years Chuck Will would climb those stairs prior to assembly, check his watch, then set the big bell to rocking and ringing, calling the community together.

It is not easy starting a new journey.

A blend of excitement and anxiety accompanies the new, but when families arrived on Tuesday for registration, when we gathered under the big tent to talk about wilderness orientation with the rain gently drumming down, you could sense the collective willingness to grow.

It requires stepping outside of comfort zones and leaving the familiar behind.