Oh, how time has passed so quickly…
I am reflecting emotionally on all the time, work, and fun spent at Camp Tuhsmeheta. Located in Greenville, Michigan, this 301 acre campground served a significant and profound part in my own development as a blind person today.
From the summer of 2006, to the summer of 2013, various themed camps would incorporate blindness compensatory skills training, team building exercises, fun activities, music, cooking, braille, science, art, and endless friendships.
I am blessed to now be the youth transition coordinator for the Alaska Center For The Blind and Visually Impaired. Be a leader in developing similar programs for students in Alaska. My tears are a bit heavy. It’s been so many years. Life has changed.
I’ve gone through some bad times and lost a lot. Due to my own transgressions. Now being able to find that inner forgiveness and seek a continuous wave of better days, no matter the obstacles.
To those of you who may have bad blood with me, I love you. Times were a bit easier back then. Weren’t they?
To those of you who have stood by, even with my previous life’s encounters, thank you.
Today, I stand. Healthy. Good weight. Roof above the head. Food in the fridge. Transportation to get where I am needed and wanted.
Thank you, Camp Tuhsmeheta, for giving me those foundational pieces to take into this life. Reapply them every place I go. With the people I meet. Do business with.
Michigan will always have a firm place in my heart that has wired many pieces of my brain to operate in a certain way.
Lake Flannigan, Jack Pine, Berch, White Pine, Red Pine, the candy shop across the channel of lakes, our sand pit, the screened-in-porch that once stood. Everything has been forever ingrained into my mind.
Archery, music camp concerts, crafts at Jack Pine, goal ball on the deck, raising and lowering the flag each day, Revery in the morning to wake us up, taking trail 23 as a shortcut, because, why not?
I miss these days very, very much. Yet, I know, I plan to continue that legacy of invaluable bonding where I go with my own career. Vicariously living through my students as they develop their own set of memories that they can look back on, too.