Summer love

MONROE — Ah, summer love.
It’s not just the stuff movies are made of. Just ask Zara Zuckerman and Ryan Meehan.

Their summer romance began 14 years ago when the couple met as young campers at Rosmarins Day Camp in Monroe.

Their relationship thrived all those years, including when the pair continued returned to Rosmarins as campers, later when they worked there as counselors in training, junior counselors and eventually as counselors before heading off to different colleges.

‘Outdoors, nostalgic and fun’
And so, it’s obvious that the only venue for Zuckerman and Meehan to hold their Aug. 25 wedding and reception at would be at Rosmarins.

“If it weren’t for Rosmarins Day Camp, none of this would be happening,” said Zuckerman, who lives in New York City and teaches at a private school in Manhattan. “We wouldn’t have that chapter of our lives, and we wouldn’t be in each other’s lives. That place is very special to us.”

Their wedding was the first ever at Rosmarins, which has been the summer home to countless campers since 1949. Picnic benches served as seating during the cocktail hour and the soccer field was the location for the ceremony and reception.

“We wanted it to be outdoors,” Zuckerman said. “We wanted it to be nostalgic, playful and fun.”

Zuckerman said although the two were only 13 at the time they first met, they had strong feelings for each other,

“I think that the truth is that we knew at 13 that we loved each other, but we knew it felt silly to be together like that when you’re so young,” she said. “But I feel very proud of the way we did things. We were best friends, we grew up together. I think there’s something really special about getting to know someone for such a long time.”

Her fondest memory of their camp experience was their first camp “overnight.”

But it’s not what you think.
“The first camp overnight is an exciting night for campers,” Zuckerman recalled. “Boys and girls got to sleep in groups out on the field. But Ryan told me he forgot his pillow. Boys and girls are not supposed to sleep on the same side of ‘the imaginary line’ in the field. But that night, we put the pillow on the center of the imaginary line. I had my head on one side, and he had his head on the other side of the line. We were legal, but we were close. We got to whisper to each other throughout the night.”

Zuckerman joked that their Rosmarins wedding was actually a vow renewal, since the couple was first “married” when they were about 15 during the Camp Carnival.

There’s always a marriage booth at the carnival, she said, which is a popular stop for camp couples.

‘But it can happen’
Meehan - a Goshen native who works in Manhattan for a business relocation consulting group -had another camper to propose to Zuckerman on his behalf. He presented her with a ring made from a yellow pipe cleaner at that “ceremony.”

Zuckerman still has that ring, tucked away with other mementos of the couple’s early life together at Rosmarins.

Meehan handled the second proposal himself, and Zuckerman has a significantly better ring to wear.

“I don’t know if you’ll meet the love of your life at camp, but it can happen,” Zuckerman said. “We already talked about sending our kids to camp. It was the best decision our parents ever made.”

And what camp will those future children be attending?

“Rosmarins Day Camp,” Zuckerman said, “where the motto is: ‘Here the sun always shines.”

By Nancy Kriz