Come to Camp with Me!

I looked at the calendar last night and realized...I'm leaving for Camp Widow in 5 weeks. 5 weeks!!!!

It seems like just yesterday I was packing my bags to head home from last year's surprisingly fantastic weekend. I was expecting the weekend to be great, we had planned it for months and Michele can make anything fabulous. What I wasn't expecting was how amazing it would be. I wasn't expecting the feeling of immediate kinship I felt with almost everyone I met. I wasn't expecting to be so moved by seeing the groups of widows chatting like old friends, sharing each other's horror stories, laughing, hugging each other, and having a wonderful time. I was expecting it to be good for everyone else - and expecting it to be all work for myself. Boy, was I wrong! :)

I worked, I was right about that. I had just started a new job and was trying to meet a deadline while still trying to pull my weight at camp. I was doing Camp Widow by day and being an environmental consultant by night. You'd think burning the candle at both ends would have made me numb to most of what the weekend had to offer. Nope! Not even exhaustion could dull the power of that weekend. It was phenomenal.

Imagine it, rooms full of people who "get it". A place where the same language was spoken by all of us, and a place where the word "widow" was a badge of honor. We all crept into Camp, self-consciously wearing our name tags, uncomfortable with our branding as "widow." When we left camp, we marched out into the world, daring people to ask us about our name tags, and laughing out loud when we realized that our group was the rowdiest in the hotel, and the ones who were obviously having the best time.

There was so much joy, and it was an intense and energizing experience. In 5 weeks I get to hang out with some of the most fabulous people on the planet, and I can hardly wait. Come hang out with me at Camp Widow, I'm so looking forward to it!

Happy Tuesday! - Michelle D.