My earliest summers were spent at Camp - my parents worked there - so as I learned songs and traditions I interpreted them through my young experience.  

On Sundays, when we sang the San Juan grace, as Henderson campers had then done for three decades, I heard the words as “May all our tides of friendship be strengthened and honored ...”.   I imagined it meant that friendships were as strong as the island tides, that like the ebb and flow of the bay they brought new surprises and comforting old memories.  As time went on, I began to wonder if “tides” referred to time, evoking the friendships of summertide, and of other moments in our lives.

At some point I guessed that we were meant to sing “ties of friendship.”  I do sing “ties,” now.  But in my heart I think of our friendships that are beautiful and constant as the tide, as enduring as time.

The embroidery on the underside of the strap reads “May All our Ti es of Friendship be Strengthened and Honored” (I stiched a little “d” in the middle of “ties”).

Today when choosing the edging for this piece, a fabric of perfect color caught my eye.  It is one of my most treasured fabrics which I had never thought to cut, because it is a shawl that one of my dearest camp friends gifted me over 30 years ago.  She had selected the cloth and her mother had deftly hand stitched the hem all around.  I saw instantly that this fabric whose colors bring the guitar strap to life is also the lasting material embodiment of strengthened and honored ties of friendship.

I cut two of the hemmed edges to use for the guitar strap border.  I am attaching them partly by hand so that the original carefully hand-rolled hem is apparent.