Well, I'm back from my trip, and I have time to write about it because someone didn't plug in my chair last night. So I can't really go anywhere for awhile, because I'm charging it. Sigh. Welcome back to reality, Amber.
California was pretty awesome, though very hot. My first Amtrak ride was scenic and exciting, and because we were riding a first-class sleeper car, they gave me a screen with a hard drive full of movies, music, and small video games to keep me occupied while Joanne slept. I kicked back in my chair what little I could and tried to sleep while she was awake because I discovered that small dark moving space is kind of scary to try to sleep in when you're not used to it. So, we left on Friday afternoon at about 3:30 p.m., and arrived at 3:00 p.m. the next day. We had to stop for every passing freight train, because they have the right of way, because they are the ones who make the most money for the railroad. I couldn't move around the train, but I had a window on each side of my car to look out of. We tried to take some pictures of the scenery. I will post them as soon as I get them.
In San Jose, we got around on their version of the Max between our hotel and whatever we ate or hung out. It was a lovely town. We got to go to the tech museum for free just because we showed up on the right day. We also went to something called the great Mall. I got some sunglasses. On Monday at two in the afternoon, Jesse, the cab driver who took us from the train station to our hotel, came back to take us on the 45 minute journey to the actual site of the retreat. It was beautiful, though not completely wheelchair accessible, surprisingly. But they did their best with the ramps and stuff.
Colleen was there to welcome me on my arrival. It turned out that every camper is assigned their own counselor, whose purported job is to give all the parents and regular caregivers a break by helping the camper and following them three steps behind everywhere. Colleen was nice, but that system wasn't really going to work for me. So we had a little talk, and she was a little better about giving me some space afterwards.
Breakfast was at 8:30 a.m., so it took me awhile to be used to the schedule. After there was a worship time involving everybody in the whole camp, and there were 35 families and/or groups altogether. After that, they divided us up into age groups for messages and study based on the theme of "the joy of the Lord." I was with the adults, and the pastor was pretty cool, having a disabled daughter himself. She was the most beautiful camper there to me. 16 years old with a terminal illness that should have killed her four years ago. And yet so smart and happy is she because she truly believes that God loves her and has a plan for her life. She even danced at the talent show. I will never forget Cathryn or any of the others. Parents who intentionally adopted multiple children with down syndrome, all under age 5. Single moms raising girls with spinal cord injury. I went away with the feeling that I will not outwardly complain as much from now on. They were all so genuinely joyful, even though their circumstances are much worse than my own.
After lunch there were family activities or free time, which mostly involved water in some way, because it was so beastly hot. They had misters of water on the building roofs by the second day. You should see my tan. In the evening were the camp wide activities, an Irish music concert the first night, a campfire the second night, a surprise anniversary party for Joni and Ken the next night, a hilariously fun square dance the next night, and on the last night was the talent show. I actually sang in the talent show, a song called reaching, and everybody said it went well, despite the fact that I was kind of tricked into going first.
The day was over at 9 p.m. and Joanne and I had our own cabin, one of the nicer ones because we had to have room for the mechanical lift we used all week to transfer me from bad to chair and back. So we each actually had our rooms to sleep in, with really comfortable beds.
But truly the best part for me was that Joni herself was there with her husband as a camper all week. I got to talk to her several times. Got a few writing tips as well. She found out that I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking like she does, and ever afterwards she called me the Dragon Lady. She is such a genuine and amazing person. I will never forget being able to meet her.
On Friday at noon, camp was over. Around two, Jesse came back to return us to the train station. We had dinner nearby, and then just waited for the train. It arrived two hours late, so we were finally moving out at about 9:30 p.m.. I arrived back in Portland at 5 p.m. on Saturday, and here around seven. Then I went straight to bed after so long up in the chair, and have been pretty much recuperating ever since.
The good news is that I managed to save some money. I love California, but I missed everyone here. And now you have my camp report for now.