Camp Me Too

On Friday, Brian and I dropped Becca off at Camp Me Too, through Stella Maris Hospice. Camp Me Too is a three-day, two-night camp designed to help grieving children learn ways to explore their grief through innovative tenchiques. A few months back she had participated in a one-day program designed for the same thing. She came home and asked to go to the weekend. We got to the camp, checked her in, got her settled in the bunk and said our good byes in one of the halls. All the campers and volunteers left to start their weekend. We, along with the other parents and guardians, were left with one of the program coordinators. She explained a little bit about the weekend and answered some questions then sent us on our way. 

Sunday morning, we were back at 10am to be reunited with Becca and to find out more about the weekend. Each camper is paired with a buddy...how great. Becca's buddy came from a family of 10 kids (2 sets of twins, she was one of those sets, and out of the other set one had passed away). How perfect of a match. Becca had some break through and opened up to others regarding her story. She connected with her buddy and knows she is not alone in her journey. After we were reunited, the campers and buddies went on a nature walk while the parents and guardians went to the "counseling ring" to hear more about the weekend and get some tips on helping the kids continue their journey. They started the weekend with a secret reveal of the buddies. Saturday seemed to be jammed packed with activities including Drums and musical instruments, nature walks, story sharing, horses and discovery and expression of feelings. The campers and buddies retuned to the ring after their walk and the closing ceremony was had. Each camper/buddy pair came to the center of the circle. The camper said what the best part about camp was as well as one thing they learned from camp. It was amazing to hear what the campers got from the weekend...it's okay to be angry, not to take your anger out on others around you, you don't have to always be happy, being sad is ok, laughing is ok even in an angry moment. Then it was the buddies turn to give something to the camper, each buddy gave their camper a rock with one word on each side. One side was their first impression of them and the other side was a trait they saw in them to hold onto in the future. Finally, they did a butterfly release. Watching all the butterflies up above us was therapeutic for everyone. Becca even said one landed on her by her heart.

We know Becca won't share everything about the weekend with us and that is okay, as long as we know she got something out of it, even the hard parts.