senor

you know the one thing that always makes your first day or so at camp easier? takes away the homesickness? comfort food. but it takes a special kind of person to put so much love and care and joy into every meal so that you always feel at home.

the other  night a very beloved member of our camp family passed away. our old cook jonas. jonas was the man that everyone loved. it was impossible to feel anything less than the greatest affection for him. his joy and passion for not only the food but for those who would be eating it was touching to say the least. jonas has always been a large part of my life even though he was only here for the summer camp season. i remember being younger and popping my head up over the serving counter to be greeted with a great big smile and "heyyy muchachaaaa" (even now i hear the words in my head exactly as he said them. i will never forget how that sounded). he would smile down at me and then vanish for a moment and often returned with a tidbit from the kitchen. then after yet another smile and a wink he would turn back to the work at hand singing to himself " bum ba ba dee do ba ba"

as i grew older i learned to appreciate him more and more, and when i started studying spanish in fifth grade i found a way to connect with "the senor" in one of his own languages. Every summer after that I did my best to converse with him in spanish, which aside from being fun was also what helped me reach the level of fluency I have today. jonas was one of the biggest parts of camp. he wasn't just the cook he was a friend, and a father figure. while sad that I will never see him again I know that wherever he is now, he is cooking up some of the best food ever made and smiling down upon all his muchachos and muchachas, just as his picture smiles down upon the serving counter in the dining hall, a tribute to a man who will always be missed and thought of with great affection.

te extrano senor. siempre estoy su muchacha <3