Overwhelming

It's been a milestone week for my family. My Sweetie started his first summer back on staff at The Camp that started it all for him. For us. My kids attended their first session at a new camp for them. A camp unlike any other. A place where physically handicapped children are not different, they just are.

On check in last Sunday, Faith met physical handicap head on. It floored her. It brought tears to her eyes and an ache in her heart. As we dropped The Boy off in his unit, Faith saw a boy with only one arm. That's the only appendage he had. No legs. Just one arm. He was pushing himself around on the floor, laughing and playing tag with a counselor. Just as if nothing was different about him. She just stared and whispered (not in embarrassment, but in awe) to me with palatable pain in her voice, "Mama, Mama! Why is he like that?" I was surprised. I shouldn't have been, but I was. We warned the kiddos about the kids they would see on camp. I thought they were prepared. HB, The Boy and Princess grew up around many people with disabilities and became accustomed to them early. While they were little, we had two friends in wheelchairs, a friend with cerebral palsy, two friends with physical anomolies, and a deaf foster son. In the last few years, our circle of friends has changed and Faith and Cutie Pie haven't been around many people with disabilities. Only Uncle Ross, and he doesn't look too different to them.

A boy with only one arm, much different. I wasn't caught off guard because I worked at this camp for five summers. I saw a lot. I walked through the shock and then acceptance many, many moons ago. My kids haven't though.

They did this week. Funny, Faith adjusted in just hours. After dropping off The Boy, we walked outside and I explained that sometimes God made kids different looking. Sometimes they had been sick and had to have surgery or something. I didn't know what the camper's background was, that she could ask Daddy though. She bee lined it to him. Her eyes were still eggs as she said all in one breath, "Daddy, there's a boy in The Boy's cabin. He has only one arm. No legs. At all. Why is he like that, Daddy? Why?" My Sweetie calmed her down and talked to her. We went home with her still pondering the whole thing.

Hours later, at a dinner picnic with all the campers and counselors, she saw the camper playing again and doing handstands and such. She soaked in the image. She saw lots of different 'things'. It was like you could physically see her sorting things out. On the way home, she cheerfully said, "Ya' know, if I had been born like that, it would be cool. Cuz I could do all these great tricks and stuff. It would be ok. Sometimes I'd use a wheelchair and sometimes I wouldn't." Then she went on to a new topic, Webkinz or something.

That conversation is symbolic of how the week has gone for Faith and Cutie Pie. A bit of shock and then time to observe and then acceptance. It's been beautiful.

HB, The Boy and Princess walked a little bit of a different journey this week. They lived with the campers and counselors during the day. All that this place has to offer, they experienced. They got to see how physical disabilities can just disappear. They made a connection that even their dad and I don't have. We were never campers, just counselors.

I can not tell you what it means to me to see my kids experience this place.

Last night was the cincher though. This camp ends with an awards night program. Lots of singing. Lots of cheers. Lots of awards. Lots and lots of smiles.

I was transferred back in time to 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994. Images of campers who are now old enough to be parents flashed through my mind. Friends I made and who are still important people in my life, including Jan, who was there tonight. She brought her niece and nephew. It was totally a God thing that she planned to be there even before she knew three of my kiddos would be campers. I cried sitting next to her as we both had reels of memories running through our heads combining with memories being made that instant.

Seeing my kiddos sing the camp songs and do the cheer with their own personal connection. Amazing.

Seeing My Sweetie give out Distinguished Camper awards just as he did eighteen years ago (and more) as a young whipper snapper. Awesome.

Seeing the coup feathers my kids earned. Breathtaking.

Seeing my family tie the knot, together, with heartstrings for this place. Overwhelming.