Camp Challenge (Me-One Foundation)...

Sorry this is so long...

What an exciting weekend! It was us four girls for the weekend (Roberta, Tanya, Jordan, and I). We drove to Petaluma, following mapquest the entire way, hoping and praying it wouldn't get us lost...and it didn't. As we entered the gates, there was a welcoming committee waving and cheering and showing us where to park the car. As we got out they took the keys, unloaded the car, and told us to go and relax. We were introduced to a "temporary" hostess who handed us a couple bags of goodies and t-shirts to go put on as she showed us to our cabin for the weekend. It was more like a dormitory, but whatever. We were in the Eucalyptus dorm. After changing into our shirts, we hurried off to the dining hall to eat dinner and meet some of the families that had just arrived. Friday night's dinner consisted of Salmon, potatoes, salad and asparagus. Afterwards there was vanilla bean ice cream cones :) We mingled around after dinner and listened to the announcements as they went over the agenda for the weekend. It was clear right from the start that you could either have a very busy weekend full of activities (canoeing, rock climbing, archery, face painting, arts & crafts, music, etc.) or you could simply relax and take a nap if you wanted to. Friday night we went over and played music with a large group of people for awhile. It was neat to see all of the different instruments and listen to the beautiful music. We then went and checked out a small improv group, but it ended up not being what we were interested in, so we moved on. At this point I think we went back to the dorms and settled down for the night. The shower situation wasn't the best if you're modest, so we showered whenever nobody was around.

Saturday was a very busy day, starting with a delicious pancake breakfast w/sausage and fresh fruit. Afterwards Jordan went to get her face painted, she chose a cute bumble bee which covered half of her face :) As I went to the spa for my facial and foot treatment, the three girls went to check out the arts & crafts. We met up afterwards and shared what a great time we all had. Since I wanted to do arts & crafts and their spa times weren't until later in the day, we went back to show me their projects that they needed to finish up and I started making things too. We ended up making picture frames, tote bags, bath salts, lavender bags, votive holders, a tie dyed shirt, and decoupage plates!! The motto was that there was no "crappy" crafts :) and they were right! After crafts I was exhausted and needed a nap (since I was coming down from chemo a couple days prior) so I went back to the dorm & Tanya and I both napped while Jordan and Roberta went to Archery. Jordan hit TWO bulls-eyes!! Can you believe that? I wish I would have been there. Apparently it wasn't a baby course either, it was the real thing. Sometime throughout the day we were given a scroll to write down our hopes, dreams, fears, beliefs, whatever we wanted. And then Saturday night after dinner was a "Scroll Ceremony". We sat around (all 35 families) in a huge outside arena and one by one each family came forward and while beautiful music was playing we would tell everyone what we wrote down on our scroll. There weren't rules, you didn't have to read yours, you didn't even have to really tell your story, but it was a nice ceremony to vent and feed off one another. It was a truly beautiful ceremony that really touched our hearts. Every family in one way or another had been affected by cancer and so it was quite moving. When you're done speaking you throw your scroll into the fire. Afterwards (actually on the way out on Sunday) they handed us a tiny vile with ashes inside. It was all the hopes and dreams and thoughts of the 2009 & 2010 scroll ceremony and when you return next year, you dump them back into the fire to be mixed in with next years. It was a very touching ceremony and I wished that John and Johnny had been there to join in. That ceremony alone made me miss my boys like crazy!! After the ceremony we went back to the dorms and as I was cleaning up our room, I accidentally kicked my suitcase which caused my nail to lift up on my big toe. There was blood everywhere! Jordan said that it looked like a crime scene! Roberta went running off to get the doctor and we stood there freaking out, watching it bleed. Dr. Hui warned me not to bleed this weekend because the Avastin that I'm on may not allow it to clot easily and I might be in trouble. Well....I bled. The doctor came and got it under control and it stopped bleeding, but my nail was hardly hanging on. I spent the rest of the weekend in a wheelchair :( It's okay though, I still had a blast. Fast forward to today, my nail is still on, I've just got to be very careful that it doesn't get infected. Apparently "loose" nails are common with Taxol (my other chemo drug).

Lastly, I need to mention our Hostess for the weekend. When we originally drove up on Friday I mentioned to the girls that I recognized one of our greeters, that she looked familiar! And then we were assigned a temporary hostess because ours didn't show up for some reason. Well...the hostess that looked familiar was reassigned to us and it ended up that I knew her from Weight Watchers!! Her name is Marianne Platt and it was great because she spent the entire weekend with us, helping us with whatever we needed. She was wonderful.

Oh, and right before we left they told us to hang on because the volunteers were washing our cars!! How awesome!!

It's good to be home, but I can't wait to go back next year. It was so nice to put aside the cancer for the weekend and truly enjoy myself with good friends and my daughter :)

Peace to you all ~ Love, Genie