oh so amazing

What a wonderful past week I've had! Camp AND my birthday in one week made me one very happy (and tired) girl!

My experience at camp was simply amazing. I honestly had no idea what to expect going into camp, but I think I got so much more out of the experience than I could've ever hoped for. Sunday morning I got up early and had coffee with Sean, finished packing, and then headed out to Camp for All. About halfway there I got pulled over for speeding (ugh), but I got lucky that the State Trooper was feeling nice and gave me a warning. Once I actually pulled up to camp I was so nervous, and I started wondering what in the world I had been thinking...

I met the other counselors and we did some icebreakers/trust exercises to get to know eachother, ate, learned about our schedule, and pretty soon the campers were arriving! I met my camper and his parents, and everyone headed down to the cabins (with air conditioning thank goodness!) to get settled. After the parents left it was time for dinner and a campfire complete with s'mores. Yum! Everyone was excited and on a sugar high, but so far, so good.

I won't bore you with all the details, but I will say that we went to nature, went horseback riding, did the high-ropes course, fished, did archery, swam every day, had wizard & superhero parties, went on 3 wookie hunts (and even saw wookies!), sang in the talent show, and danced our little hearts out! I know this is all pretty typical camp stuff, but the amazing thing about it was the kiddos who were participating in the activities. We had friends ages 6-13 with autism & aspergers, a few with Down Syndrome, and two in wheelchairs, but EVERYONE was able to participate in EVERYTHING! For the kiddos who weren't able to climb the ropes course, they were hoisted up in a bucket sling and able to fly down the zipline. Our friends in wheelchairs were rolled into the pool and helped out of their chairs. There was a way to modify any activity for any of our friends, and best of all... they were allowed to just BE. There was no pressure on our friends to participate if they didn't want to, to "behave" like other children, etc. It was just fun, fun, fun.

Camp LIFE is an absolutely amazing program, and I know my explanation isn't even close to doing it justice. It's just one of those things you've really got to see to understand. Life stands for Leadership, Independence and Friendship through Experience, and I feel like the campers we had really did gain all of those things this past week. Watching some of the children with more severe disabilities get so excited when they were able to do things for themselves, things they'd never done before, was absolutely amazing and rewarding. Watching the children develop friendships with other kiddos like them over the week just made my heart so happy. As for me, I developed a whole new understanding and respect for the parents of the kiddos I work with every day. At school I see my friends from 7:45 to 1:45, but at camp I was responsible for them 24 hours a day like their parents are, which is much more exhausting! I have a new understanding of the callenges parents face day-in and day-out, and I feel like my experience will help me interact with parents in a whole new way this upcoming year. Working a camp like this should be mandatory for anybody going into teaching PPCD or Life Skills!

What's even more awesome about Camp LIFE is that each counselor is responsible for only one child (sometimes two when they're less involved), so the children get some awesome one-on-one interaction! The camper I was assigned to was quite a handful and had me running circles all week, but by the end of the week we had developed a pretty good relationship and routine, and I was so sad to see him go. I miss my little friend and his "wookie repellent" bottle collection (which is a whole different story for another post), waking up for 6am meds, and singing bedtime songs. I don't miss carrying his weighted vest around everywhere, although it was a great workout as many times as we went up and down the hill! :)

I really wish I could share pictures, because they'd make this post complete. Guess you'll just have to use your imagination. All I can say is that I'm so glad I decided to go to camp, because I feel like I learned so much more from my campers than they learned from me. I'll definitely be back for their fall & spring weekend camps, and again next summer. I'm hooked!