Efraim & Jess
Camp Yavneh
When/how/where at camp did you meet?
Camp Yavneh, summer of 1998. We had both been campers for a few years but went different months (Efraim went second and Jess went first). Within a few days of camp we started dating- it was the truest sense of camp romance. We were obsessed with each other. Our friends even knew if they wanted to hang out with one of us they would have to deal with the pair.
Was it love right away?
Totally! We had blinders on to anything else going on at camp. Our focus was almost exclusively on our relationship – looking back it probably was quite annoying to everyone else.
Do you find that your time at camp has influenced your marriage/family?
Absolutely – our context for most things is through the lens of camp. Most of our friendships are “camp people”. While we have very different careers our experience as camp counselors informs how we do our job. Efraim is the Director at Camp Tel Noar, which was his dream job as a kid. Jess is an attorney, and HR professional for GameStop, where she works to make sure everyone has a positive work environment.
Deciding to be a “camp family” and signing up for the lifestyle associated with being a Camp Director takes tremendous sacrifice and dedication from our family – we love that our girls (5 and 3) talk about camp during the year and often talk about the other adults that work at camp.
What happened between you when camp ended that summer?
We convinced our parents to get us cell phones! Free nights and weekends ended up being a big money saver for our parents (Jess lived in Boston and Efraim lived in FL- long distance isn’t cheap)
Did you have any camp themed thing at your wedding?
Not a specific theme but of the 50 or so friends almost all of them were camp people. The guests of our parents knew they were at a camp wedding for sure!
Will you send your kids to camp?
We already do 🙂