My friend in Florida is very much a realist. He asked the question , "Do you have a Plan B in the (very likely) event that camp 2020 might not happen?" I immediately whipped back that we had had to tap dance twice before:
1) When one of the school systems pulled out from partnering with us and we scrambled for a place to have the workcamp base for lodging.
2) When our workcamp base, Richard Bland College of Wm & Mary told me 15 days before camp we wouldn't have access to the kitchen and cafeteria area because they were going to be doing abatement . We ended up have a giant "mess tent" and cooking, etc outside. How we tip toed through that one I don't know. I do know it's a wonder that we all didn't get food poisoning!!!
In both cases though, we won out. They were incredible summers. So, for my friend to have his questions fly in front of me,....well, let's just say, I ALWAYS do the right thing, it just takes me a little time to make friends with ideas. My determination (some call it bulldozing) most of the time in orchestration with good solid data, a healthy dose of fearlessness and a pure , truthful heart usually triumphs.
So, in the event we have to consider this summer, there would be no Plan B. Moving a program of this magnitude wouldn't be possible and I can't believe I am writing this. Especially during a time when I am alone and can't say the words aloud to hear them resonate. Most people don't realize what a lifeline this program is for not only the residents that we help, but the teens and adults that are campers and staff. Shoot, they don't realize it until they've been through it:)
Everyone needs inspiration from somewhere. The magic that happens with us each summer is the life force that gets a lot of people through another year. Sounds dramatic, but it's the truth.
I was sitting in a doctor's office a couple of weeks ago and he had a little mini-library in the waiting room. I pulled out a book entitled "The Science of Skin and the Human Touch". It was almost a prophecy of what is happening now with the virus pandemic. I am a hugger....toucher. I can not fathom going through life not touching, hugging, hand-holding someone each day. But, now here it is. Not only silence, but the reality of not being able to experience human touch brings tears to me each and every day. Thank God it's temporary because me and people like me would shrivel up and die.
Don't get me wrong, I am still an encourager on the phone and with anyone connected with TCW or family. What you hear from my end of the phone conversation will ALWAYS be nurturing, kind and encouraging even though I might in reality be a fizzy bottle with the cork about to explode. It is in my nature. If I'm angry, I never go after another person outwardly. I always go inward, cutting &; slicing, trying to examine what I have done to cause distress to another human. Nope, I know it's not correct, but it was the way I was brought up. I was taught to be quiet and always accept the fault. It's kept me out of a lot of conflicts, but after 40 years, it I am realizing that it's the controlled conflict with dialogue that makes a person grow. It is f##king scary, but ALWAYS better to talk it out no matter what the truth is. ( OK, that was a little dirt path I didn't expect to go down!)
I am just going to have to believe that something very good is going to come out of this and I don't want to limit my thinking about what it will be." Come on Connie! Think out of the box, Just let your mind run free with ideas. This summer isn't defeated, but it may look totally different". I am safe and content sitting here in my bed with Louie beside me.There is no place I'd rather be physically. The people that call me though are scared...afraid of where they are in life and wondering why they aren't somewhere else further down the road. Calming their storm and mine as well, means looking at where we are right now and figuring out what I am supposed to do at this place and time. I am here at this place and time for a reason. Now is the time to hurry up and figure out the reason so I can get on with whatever wonderful things there are to be accomplish and create. Time's a wasting! I'm not as young as I used to be!!
My challenge now is to hunker down and pull out of me whatever is supposed to grow out of all that has happened the past few months and apply it to what I need to do and be as I move forward with family, friends and TCW. For the first time I am unsure about that and this is new territory for me. I don't like it. It makes my heart beat fast. But, I know it's a good thing. I always try to look at the glass half full, not half empty. Thank God for the realists in this world that pull me toward the middle. The middle is a good place to stand and get a lay of the land. Surveying from a mountain of success only gives one line of vision.
There is a saying from a song "Courage is just faith on top of fear".
That's where I am right now. I have faith in the earth and mankind that all will be well. But, it's all smoothed like cake icing over a hefty layer of fear. I will still trust that knee-jerk response to jump in unconditionally when other's need me and even more quickly if the cry for help is a matter of the heart.
I love this saying:
"Do not be dismayed at the brokeness of the world.
All things break and all things can be mended.
Not with time, as they say, but with intention.
So, go LOVE intentionally, extravagantly, and
unconditionally.
The broken world waits in darkness for the light that
is in you."
No comments:
Post a Comment