Sorry, late because of my technical challenges!

A Guten Chodesh my Dear Kallas, עמו” ש

I guess I should start with those words I dread saying…. “As summer winds down” ….

There is something magical and kid-like about summer for me, and being in a camp, I am so grateful to be able to access that fun and excitement.  Hot air balloons, tubing down a creek, late night Perpetual Commotion games, waterslides…. It’s a beautiful and much appreciated break from “routine”.

One of the things I do here (besides ride in hot air balloons), is to help girls manage (there are about 1000 angles to that in camp).

For many of them, it’s their first time away. For many, it’s not.

There is an intensity to camp that only exists in a camp surrounding.

Living with a group in a bunkhouse, learning to navigate so many personalities, working as a unit on things like cleanup, games, and competitions can really be challenging. Adding to that; much less sleep than usual, food prepared in ways we might not be used to, laundry that just isn’t how Mom does it (or whoever does it….), homesickness, wondering if your best friend from last year is still your best friend…. It can really be rough.

There are many kids that are able to adjust easily by nature, things are generally “okay”, it’s not what she wanted, or hoped for, but it will be okay.  This newsletter is not about those kids.

This is about all the kids (and adults) that are not wired like that.

Things are harder; situations are harder, adjustments are harder, disappointments are harder, change is harder, being “okay” is harder.

This is a tribute to all of those kids that overcame hard things this summer.

The kids that really try, and try again, to be positive, to be flexible, to be forgiving, and to move past disappointment.

You are role models to me, and to everyone that knows how hard you work at this.

It opens my heart and my eyes, and it makes me realize how most of the time I have no idea how hard people are working to make things work.

There are heroes around me constantly. Sometimes I know the backstory, but most of the time I do not.

There are heroes surrounding us all of the time, but more often than not, I have no idea.

We are all going to have times when it’s harder to be positive, flexible, forgiving, and “okay” with the situation.

The more we grow those muscles, the easier it is to lift those hard situations and the more often we will be able to “soldier on” when it seems like the mountain is too hard to climb.

So, this is for the people that feel those bumps a little more than others… heroes, at any age.

Appreciate the people around us, ourselves at the top of the list, because we often have to push through hard things, and no one knows it but us.