I’m sitting at my desk in the office that Steve and I share on the second floor of the CAMP Rehoboth Community Center. Today is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and a deadline day for the next issue of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth. I should probably be writing about the exciting new plans for Phase Two of the Community Center construction to be on display at the Black and White Beach Ball, or the line-up of Love Weekend events, of the Follies, or any one of the many other CAMP Rehoboth related activities or events that stretch out over the days and weeks ahead. But I don’t feel like it. Instead I put my dog in my lap, slide my chair and keyboard into a more comfortable position, and sit back and think about Memorial Day weekend—past, present, and those yet to come.

Next door, the Blue Moon has been busy since Friday afternoon, a buzz of music and voices rising and falling depending on the time of day and the mood of the crowd. In the CAMP courtyard just outside my window, the gentle daytime crowds enjoying the CAMP WiFi, Lori’s famous chicken salad, their pets, or just one another, is giving way to the call of happy hour time all over town. The weather is gorgeous, and has been throughout the weekend.

Memorial Day is the beginning of summer, a long weekend filled with barbeques, beach time, house parties, the renewal of old friendships and the making of new ones. For many, it is a brief respite from the stresses and struggle of everyday life.

Memorial Day is officially the time to remember those who have died in the service of our country. In our present political and cultural climate that meaning is sometimes forgotten except by those directly affected by loss or military connections. Even with the Iraq war weighing so heavily on our collective spirits—or maybe because the Iraq war weighs so heavily on our collective spirits—we look for ways to escape from it.

Many of us have never supported the war in Iraq. Many of us also never supported the war in Vietnam, but we seemed to have learned some lessons in the intervening years about dealing with the soldiers who served in the military back then and the ones who serve now. Back then we were more likely to direct our opposition, frustration, and anger towards the soldiers themselves than we are today. Now, no matter our opinion about the war or the administration responsible for it—polarizing issues both—we at least seem to be trying to honor and respect the people serving and dying in Iraq. Still, most of us, I dare say, would rather leave the whole subject at home and just sit back and enjoy the beautiful summer beach weather and the friends and family around us.

Memorial Day is a contradiction. On the one hand, it’s an escape; on the other hand, it’s a time to honor and remember the men and women who have suffered and died in tragic and difficult circumstances. Most of us don’t want to think about the war and the beach at the same time, but I don’t think we ever really escape from it. Across the country—across the world, for that matter—the years of fighting are taking a toll on our spirits. Here in our little resort town—and others like it—the "escape" factor has sometimes kept the subject a little below the horizon. We want to stroll along the Boardwalk in peace. We want to ride the Sea Dragon and Whack-a-Mole our frustrations and busy lives into a distant corner somewhere far away.

We want to forget. Yet this is a holiday about remembering. Like most of life’s contradictions, we seem to only fully understand them when we put them together. To really enjoy and appreciate the friends and family we are with on this holiday weekend, we have to remember the true state of the world around us. Only when we do that can we be truly thankful for the time we have together on a beautiful summer weekend.

Rehoboth Beach was, in the beginning, created to be a Methodist Church campground—a retreat. A retreat is not just about escape, it’s a time of renewal, a time to realign the elements of our individual hearts and souls. We can only do that by not forgetting the many contradictions that make up our lives. From hope and despair, love and fear, pain and joy, we become fully awake to ourselves and the world around us.

So really, it seems, I’ve been writing about CAMP Rehoboth after all. It too is a contradiction. Camp always is. Gay "camp" is the ability to laugh at the contradictions in our lives. Our CAMP Rehoboth is the way we weave those contradictions into a community that is open, loving, and supportive of everyone in it.

Murray Archibald, Founder and President of the Board of Directors of CAMP Rehoboth, is an artist in Rehoboth Beach.

Note: The above CAMPshot is of Larry Pennington and Dave Lasher at CAMP Rehoboth after Peter Karsner and Andy Staton’s White (with a touch of pink) Party. See CAMPShots for more Memorial Day photos and more.