Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Summer Camp in Spring


The boys and I went to summer camp last weekend--only it was most definitely spring time in the Rockies (which looks a lot like winter...)


Camp Chief Hector hosted a flood-relief weekend for families from the Bow Valley and High River. We enjoyed the YMCA camp with all its amenities as a form of therapy for flood-related stress.

Two things: I felt a bit guilty when hearing about other family's losses (Exshaw and High River...) and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed the taste of camp!

We built a quincy, climbed a tower, played in the Vertical Playground, went canoeing
(saw tiger salamanders-WHO KNEW about these huge creatures on lake floor breathing through external gills as juvies, which morph into air-breathing amphibians!!!) and a muskrat,
did archery, communed with horses, mined the snow, built with snow, threw the snow, got buried in the snow, tromped everywhere in the calf-deep snow--in short, spent the best part of two days OUTSIDE!!!

The benefits of nature on healing are proven. The children slept well, ate well, and played with each other like little savages (minus the screens, like in the old days). The adults played too, and slept and ate well as a result. We, of course, were very civilized.

We chatted, shared stories, gave our updates. We're all aware of the anniversary approaching. Some of our group are living in temporary shelter, almost a whole year later. (And let's not forget about the people from Morley who are also still displaced, and who weren't at camp with us.)

Did anything change for you? asked Peter Quinn, of Bow Valley Victim Services (he's a colleague and fellow Canmoron), whose idea this was. I had to sleep on that question.

And here's my answer: I rekindled my romance with Mother Nature.

Yes, we're all anticipating the spring rains. "When will the sun come out?" asked my 12-year-old, exasperated at the cloudy icons on the forecast page. This huge dump of May snow (it's still snowing today, the fifth day of this) is unnerving. We all hope that April 26 and 27 were not all we'll see of spring...

But the beauty and peace and ease I experienced on the weekend, moving through an insulated world blanketed by snow, was profound. Nestled in the trees, we couldn't hear the highway. We could hear the snow falling. In fact the kids had a blast standing beneath a tree while someone else knocked the snow off its branches. Hours of entertainment! Most of the registered campers did wimp out, but I'm so glad we didn't: we remembered that you can have fun outside, in the snow, the whole day long.

It was important to recreate and relax in the great outdoors. So many of us live in the Bow Valley by choice. We love the place! We need it. We're just that kind of people.

So we have to accept the vagaries of the weather.

What's much harder to accept are the vagaries of insurance companies, and bureaucracy, and government policy, and the arbitrary nature of adjustors. Really, there's where the headache comes from. See more at Albertans Left Behind.




2 comments:

Danielle said...

Oh wow - this was so beautifully written, and the photos are gorgeous! I have been having quite the contemplation with nature these days. Fabulous post :) Thank you for sharing!

Unknown said...

Thank you so MUCH for your feedback - you have made my week!
So glad you had a great time!
Michelle Whitney
Administrator Camp Chief Hector