It has been quite a while since my last post and so... here I am.
What did I do this summer???
I attend "Adventure Valley Day Camp" with O and facilitated a camp experience for him.
It was rough goings in the beginning but I reaped the rewards greatly by watching other campers become more comfortable with O over time and interacting with O without needing me there to bridge the "gap". O is deaf and uses sign language to communicate and also has the coolest wheelchair this side of Younge St.
It takes a lot of love to support O, and when you need energy to get through the day, it is hard to also make camp work for us. Often programs were not adjustable or not accessible (upstairs)
The more the staff of AV got to know me and I them, we were all better able to adjust and adapt whatever was needed to ensure that O and myself could join in.
I grew to enjoy my time at AV and am looking forward to next summer... I also met a boy. He is a blog post into himself.
I also went back to Camp Presqu'ile, the same camp I have been working for the previous 4 summers and that my ex-fiancee would also be at. It was an learning summer.
I learned that people change, ever changing. Because you knew someone once does mean you know them now, or even then.
I learned that while I love camp and am so thankful for the people I have met and the experiences I have had, it is possible to outgrow camp. Even though the idea is so scary...
The effort you put in is what you get. If you don't attempt to make friends, you won't.
I learned that its okay to let go when you have nothing else to hold on to...you will stand and continue to do so.
This blog exists for me to chat to you...I am not a writer and I thank you for reading anyway, the only two people that do... more later.
goodnight
