SUUSI Vignettes- The Power of Summer Camp
If you’ve ever been to summer camp, or on an intensive trip with a small group of people, you know that it can invite quick, close connections between people. (Am I projecting my extroverted tendencies onto other people?) At least, I have had that experience many times over the years.
SUUSI had that same feeling for me in a couple different ways.
In my Women and Writing class, we were sharing honest, yet biased perspectives on our lives through the stories we crafted. You learn so much about a person quickly both by what she is willing and able to share through her writing, but also by how she presents the writing itself. Are there apologies and caveats or a simple “Here I am” in the presentation? This class had both. (I was in the “I’m too old to care what anybody thinks. Here’s my freakin’ awesome story.”)
In the few times I was able to eat with people not in my intimate group of family and best friends, I had another opportunity for those intense connections as well. Though potentially draining, I live for these moments.
Two stories I heard which have stayed with me:
1) An awesome woman shared her story from years ago of struggling with homelessness. It was a collision of new job, new city, housing falling through- taking the housing deposit with it, and two weeks till the first paycheck. The difficulty of living out of her car, technically making too much money to receive help, while having to hide her troubles from new colleagues and family who had told her she would fail…one of those life adventures that was a nightmare to live through, but shaped her view of the world.
Buds and I had a few “only $5 till payday” episodes in our early years together, but we always knew we had family who could and would step in to help if we needed them to. We never wanted to ask, but just knowing we had their non-judgmental support if needed…what a blessing that was.
2) I talked with a woman whose cousin died very young, leaving three young children. This woman put her life on hold and moved in with the family for three years to care for these children and to help ease their transition to their new life. The youngest child was two years old at the time. In stark contrast to the above story, the family in this case had boatloads of money. The dad paid the woman’s salary that she gave up and there was never any concern about the financial side of life. The cousin who died was grateful for the financial resources to ease the stress on everyone, but…money can only do so much.
As this woman and I cried together about the sharp blows life can deal out, her lovely insight was, “I feel most sorry for Julie who has missed seeing her children grow up. The children are doing fine, the husband is okay, but she lost so much.”
Life…precious, precious life.
