My second and last week of camp this summer was so memorable and filled with so much heart ache when the campers leave. 24/7 with one camper for a week and no further than arms length away... and then all of a sudden they're gone. Each time you have a camper they fill up a part of you, you didn't know you needed, with their smiles, laughter, and struggles. When they leave you wake up in the middle of the night to check if they are still asleep, you glance up often to make sure they are still by your side, and you yearn for others to see them and love them the way you do when they leave to go back home. And even though you know god is taking care of them all day, you still wonder because these are the greatest kids and what one would call "faults" I see the beauty. To run when they want to run; to scream because it feels good; to not be able to use their legs but have intelligent minds; and maybe some will not speak with words, but they are speaking. I know god listens to these beautiful children. I work at Camp Hawkins to spend time with these kids.
My last camper of the summer was a 19 year old boy with autism and non-verbal but brilliant. He was a fantastic speller. I cried when his dad took him at the end of the week and I don't cry. When his dad took him early, without letting him receive his award and do the camp song, we were rushed to the car and I said "love you" and my camper replied with "I ove ou oo". His dad looked at me and said, "I didn't know he could do that". My heart broke a little. Then I told his dad yes and he also wrote down all the answers in bible study too! His dad had no idea he could. His dad was nice, I don't want to paint a picture like he wasn't nice, but the dad just seemed unappreciative of his sons talents. That is when I curled up behind a wheelchair and cried when I returned to the award show. I don't like to be seen as vulnerable, therefore no one saw me. I just appeared with a puffy face and wiped eyes as I returned with smiles towards the other children.
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