I am not mine.

On My Bones

2009-02-28T11:00:00.001-06:00

My blog has been revived! It was a wonderful idea to try and start a blog while working at Camp For All-and it was also next to impossible. I decided to get this thing going again, but with less expectations. Just random thoughts from Callie Mae's head.

I will get this thing goin' with one of my latest youtube/dance obsessions. I love the song On My Bones by Kendall Payne, and one of my favorite little dancers I follow on youtube is Lauren Garrett. I love how she expresses the choreography given to her. Most of the time she works with Tokyo, but this particular performance is Emily Shock's choreography. The art portrayed to this song just gets me-and makes me want to get into the studio again so badly.

...............Someday.

What these years have brought me
What these years have taught me
Heartache and fame, a chance to change
A hope to be stronger
That beauty can smolder
A stage and a curtain, that nothing's for certain
Oh these years have been hard on my bones

What this world has brought me
What this world has taught me
Senseless spinning, never tie instead of winning
Ice cream for licking, the clock's always ticking
No one is free, someone must have a key
Oh this world has been hard on my bones
All this time I'd been seeking my own
Oh this road has been hard on my bones

What this love has brought me
What this love has taught me
Patience in battle, who's in the saddle
Joy and despair, that I really do care
Uncertain desire the risk in going higher
Oh this love has been hard on my bones

What this God has brought me
What this God has taught me
Passion and grace, how to stand in one's space
Laughing at lilies, what truly fulfills me
Death on a cross, it was I that was lost
Oh this God has been life to these bones
Oh this God has been life to my bones

(...Sorry for any non-savvy art folk that just "don't get it"...I hope you at least enjoyed the song? Questionmark?)

calliemae

P.S Oh, and Happy Rare Disease Day! Check out www.pku.com

Orientation.

2008-05-26T17:17:00.000-05:00

Ahhh, yes. Orientation time.

The past two summers we started on a Sunday evening. This year it got bumped to Tuesday morning. It was a mere four days and it had felt like three months already. CFA might as well have its own time zone. One day out here feels like three weeks in the “real” world.

Our family is surely developing. I know this is going to be an amazing summer, maybe more than any of my past, dare I say. Something one should know about Camp For All is that the program staff is what makes it different than other special needs camps. The new additions and positions of our management team this summer have done an amazing job in hiring people that have their heart in the right place…(at least I think so far. The real test will come with all of the camper arrivals.) Orientation is key to an outstanding CFA staff, because the relationships we develop over those two weeks in the cabin’s that the campers stay in (we move into our more luxurious retreats when the first campers arrive), are what set the tone for the summer. They have really been focusing a lot of their attention on staff relationships, how to communicate effectively, and seem to really grasp the fact that our interactions this summer will mirror how well the programs go down.

This group seems to lack extreme “returner” vs. “new” people symptoms unlike my first time around, and even more excitingly-it lacks clicks unlike my second summer. Everyone is looking out for everyone. I love it. I am closer to these people that I have known for two weeks now than I was with over half the staff that I lived with for three months the past couple summers. This is all based on Orientation alone of course. I forget that it has been a very short time in the real world.

Lifeguard training morphed me into a lobster within 48 hours, but a much more confident one. Larry the Lifeguard showed us whats up. This years training is the most efficient it has been, and I don’t think I just think that because it is my third time around so I know the material more. I would have to agree about the Ropes Course training as well.

Orientation in general has just been very efficient.
I really feel like CFA is headed in the right direction now.
It’s a lot harder to update this thing than I thought it would be. Bare with me.
I am just really antsy for the first group of campers to get here. 3 more days people!!

Nutshell.

2008-05-02T02:19:00.000-05:00

I have PKU. When I was 10 years old 2 doctors (one of them mine), my nurse, and my dietician decided to start a week long summer camp for children with PKU. The first ever Camp PHEver was established in 1997 and held at Camp Allen in Navasota, Texas. One year later, Camp For All opened.

(Camp For All, located in the rolling hills of Washington County, Texas, is a unique camping and retreat facility that strives to enrich the lives of people with special needs. A not-profit organization, Camp For All works in partnership with special needs groups whose members gain self-esteem, self-awareness and independence by participating in programs that are recreational, therapeutic and educational. The camp provides a fully-accessible environment and programs that are tailored to meet the needs of campers of all ages, interests and abilities. www.campforall.org )

1998-2005 I spent 6 days out of my year in Burton, TX at a place often described as "Heaven On Earth". These 6 days were my reason for living. Camp PHEver cuts off at age 18, and requires that you take off a year before becoming a counselor to "mature." This was not going to keep me away.

My dream since I was 11 years old was to become CFA Staff. I applied in 2006, and screamed bloody murder when I got the call that I had fullfilled this passionate goal of mine. When Camp PHEver came, I could not have been more proud to show off that I was "one of them" now. That summer I lived, and "worked" for Camp For All for 3 months straight. It forever changed everything about my life.

I worked my second summer in 2007. This was the first time I would take off work from CFA the week that Camp PHEver came to be a counselor.

After some second summer turmoil, I considered that my last round. I quickly realized that I needed to be there, but due to college, would only be able to make it out the second half. This would soon change...

Fast forward to today, and I am happy to say that I will be out for my 3rd full summer as CFA Program Staff.

And that is what this blog is for. I really wish I would have done this before, especially that first summer. I want to be able to share stories about this other world that I have spent a lot of my time talking about over the years.

Some entries may be long, some short. Either way, ignore my grammar. I like to type the way I speak...which means I may ramble. Im sorry if you happen to get so lost in it that you get uninterested and stop reading. Lord knows I am not the best writer. Im assuming my closest friends and family are reading this, so I will try my best to express what is on my mind and heart in the best manner I can.

If you are reading this, I probably love you.

love,
Callie Mae
(or "Salad" in t-minus 10 days!)