Joni and Friends: Family Retreat - Day Five and Six
Thursday. The last full day everyone has with their campers. In my opinion, it is a bittersweet day. We have breakfast in the morning, with programming afterwards, and free time in the afternoon.
During programming, we all sat and listened to a story, finished all our crafts (a little clay pot, a paper hedgehog, a painted lion, and a passport placemat), played games, and went to music time. Our camper did pretty well that day. I think we only had one visit to the sensory room. I have to mention the wonderful person who ran the sensory room. This woman is basically Wonder Woman. She was one of our behavior specialists and was always there if we needed help. One day during the week, we were on the verge of a meltdown, we headed to the sensory room due to some difficulty. She took one look at us and knew exactly what to do. She grabbed a stick with a ribbon on the end, and twirled it in the air. Our camper locked on, and his attention was completely on the ribbon. She let him have it, and it quickly became his favorite toy. Without her help, we might have had to work through a meltdown.
During free time, my partner and I had our break (STMs are strongly urged to take an hour break every day). We sat and wrote Happy Grams, ate snacks, and talked in my room. Happy Grams are kind of like telegrams. You write your message, write the receiver's name on the line, and drop it in one of the many boxes. The amazing hospitality crew takes them and delivers them to the recipient's lodging. Every break we had, my partner and I would sit and write Happy Grams to many campers and STMs because there is nothing like walking into your room and finding a Happy Gram that had been slipped under your door. Reading a Happy Gram can really change the course of your day. (I brought home a few blank Happy Grams to send to people)
Happy Grams
After dinner Thursday night, is karaoke. I'm not normally someone who will willingly get up on stage. But if the campers want you to get up and sing, duty calls. I got up to sing twice during week one. I am so glad my roommate was away at the moment, because there is no video evidence of this happening. She told me multiple times during the week, that I would be filmed by her if I got up for karaoke. So if she had stayed, I would be a video here of me singing Justin Bieber's "Baby" and "Under The Sea" from The Little Mermaid. But there's not (sorry not sorry). The Sweet Shoppe stayed open later than normal so my partner and I sat with our ice cream too. Nothing beats ice cream and a warm brownie. There was no STM debrief that night, so we didn't have to go back early that night. After saying goodnight to our family, my roommate and I invited my partner and her sister to our room to hang out. We just sat around, talked, and laughed. Then a couple hours later, we just went to bed.
That morning, I was a bit slower to get up. That afternoon, the STMs had to say goodbye to the families. My partner and I met our family at breakfast, and we (my partner, our camper's sister's STM and I) took care of the three kids while their parents loaded up the van. After they were done packing, we all headed to the closing program. It is one of the most tear jerking thing I have ever experienced. Members of the families make comments about how things went, the photographer/videographer shows the highlight reel (the most tear jerking part), a few announcements from the camp director, and finally ending with a song. Then comes the worst part. Saying bye to the campers. My partner and I pushed our camper's stroller behind his family towards the van, knowing it was nearly time to say bye. We exchanged hugs, said bye, and held back tears as we walked away after they got in the van. Right after I walked away, I excused myself from the other two STMs and went back to my room before the last STM debrief of Week One and cried for five minutes. I can say with ease that I am SO relieved that I signed up for two weeks. I would have just cried the whole way home.
(Closing Program)
That morning, I was a bit slower to get up. That afternoon, the STMs had to say goodbye to the families. My partner and I met our family at breakfast, and we (my partner, our camper's sister's STM and I) took care of the three kids while their parents loaded up the van. After they were done packing, we all headed to the closing program. It is one of the most tear jerking thing I have ever experienced. Members of the families make comments about how things went, the photographer/videographer shows the highlight reel (the most tear jerking part), a few announcements from the camp director, and finally ending with a song. Then comes the worst part. Saying bye to the campers. My partner and I pushed our camper's stroller behind his family towards the van, knowing it was nearly time to say bye. We exchanged hugs, said bye, and held back tears as we walked away after they got in the van. Right after I walked away, I excused myself from the other two STMs and went back to my room before the last STM debrief of Week One and cried for five minutes. I can say with ease that I am SO relieved that I signed up for two weeks. I would have just cried the whole way home.
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