High Ropes

You know that feeling you get when you're high above everything? Whether it's at the top of a long climb and your looking at the view, or your taking off in a plane and are watching as things down below get smaller and smaller or even when you reach the top of the stairs and you turn around to look at something down below? You know that feeling... kind of a twinkle in your belly, a lightheadedness?

Well I experienced that today at the high ropes course at Double H Ranch in Lake Luzerne.  I have spent the last week volunteering as a nurse at this wonderful camp for children with life threatening illnesses.  Some are wheelchair bound due to their illness while others have illnesses that allow them to be up and walking around like the rest of us.  Today it didn't matter which category the kids were in-they all went on the high ropes course. The wheelchair kids were removed from their chairs and placed in seats with ropes and carabeaners already attached.  They were hoisted and guided up and into harnesses made especially for their seats.  They were attached to the zip line and sent soaring through the air like eagles, flying and weightless.  Peels of laughter and screams of joy could be heard throughout the forest as could the cheers from their fellow campers down below.

So that feeling, that "flying" feeling... I felt that today, only me feet were still firmly planted on the ground.  I felt it though, just by watching these kids fly!  I will remember it always...

Packing

So, today I leave for Double H Ranch up in Lake Luzerne for a week of volunteering. When I signed up (back in February) I was very excited and couldn't wait for the week to get here. This past week has been filled with more excitement and some anxiety about what to expect when I get there. However, the main focus has been on the incredible amount of packing.

I have been stressing about how many items are on the "what to pack" list so graciously sent to me by the Ranch. Not only did I receive one but I got one for both of my kids, who will also be attending for a week (a awesome perk for volunteers). I have been frantically running around making sure that we all had enough warm weather clothes, cold weather clothes, bathing suits, towels, etc. We shopped into the night last night for small shampoo and conditioner containers, mini soaps, hair bands, flashlights and batteries. And I have spent hours doing laundry to ensure that all the right blankets, sheets and pillows were clean and ready for our journey. All this while I have been fretting... "Did I forget anything?", "Did I pack enough"? "What if it rains the whole time?" (not a far stretch considering the summer we've had). "Will the kids be warm enough with the blankets I packed?".

Wham! It hit me.

While I'm "stressing" about the everyday items I need to pack, the other parents with kids going to the Ranch are hoping they've packed enough syringes and medicines. Enough inhalers and trach supplies. Enough bandages and catheters. You see this isn't just an ordinary summer camp. This is Double H Ranch, a camp for kids with life threatening illnesses. Other parents would probably give anything to have the simple stresses of packing that I have. So I will not stress any more about what did or didn't get packed. I will simply let this week at the Ranch adjust my perspective, fill me with joy and be grateful for my healthy children.