A week in the woods

I couldn't be much busier at work these days. Project deadlines are looming, new business pitches are mounting and taking up much of my working hours, and I have unsigned, unaddressed birthday cards sitting on my desk at home intended for friends whose birthdays have since long passed. In other words, I am stretched a little thin.

I don't mean to complain. I only tell you this because I also want to tell you about something I did in the midst of this chaos that was pretty special. This something took me away from all the chaos for seven days, and guess what? The world kept spinning. Business continued at the office. The dogs survived their seven days at the kennel with no permanent damage.

So this special something was Camp Quality. I and my husband served as companions to campers who have or have had cancer. We spent a week in the woods with these kids who ranged in age from seven to 18. My camper has been in remission for several years and looks forward to Camp Quality more than anything each year. Bill's camper is still going through treatment for two types of blood cancer and is responding well. It was his first year at camp, but I suspect not his last!

Being with our campers 24 hours a day for seven days was definitely exhausting, but wow what a reminder of what it means to get back to basics! I spent hours at the archery range with a great kid who repeatedly thanked me for coming to camp. Bill spent an afternoon fishing with a 12-year-old who had faced death. Puts things into perspective a bit.

But the most touching moment was probably seeing my husband lift a wheelchair bound teen out of her chair so she too could slow dance during the most anticipated event of the week--the sock hop! She enjoyed it so much, she asked for a second dance. I was so proud of him for initiating this and for giving this young girl a memorable night during a very memorable week. I was teary-eyed, as I was at least once a day each day of the week.

Then we came home. We did a lot of laundry. Caught up on the mail. Picked up the dogs. Went back to work. The grind was calling. We jumped back in, but with a little more reluctance than usual. We had experienced something so profound that tracking reports and e-mail seemed almost wrong. But we're slowly beginning to get back into our groove with an eye on next year and how we can escape for another week in the woods with some angels (who yes, sometimes acted like devils) on Earth.