This past week we spent time with the MVSers from San Francisco, Alamosa, and Chicago. We spent most of our time together at Camp Friedenswald in Southern Michigan, a Mennonite camp where I counseled at in 2019 and met Cade for the first time. For two sunny days we played all the games/sports we could get our hands on (tennis, sand volleyball, spikeball, and a number of board and card games), enjoyed the beautiful lake, and helped camp with a few maintenance projects. We spent a bit of time in Goshen visiting Cade's home church and I was able to spend some time with my cousin and Grandparents! Then we all headed back to Chicago and enjoyed as much of the city as we could in 24hr on a budget. Featured below are some highlighted moments from the week. It was so wonderful to reconnect with college friends and exchange experiences from the different units.
Back in Tucson
Although fear of failure is a huge driver (or maybe more accurately, an inhibitor) for me in situations relating to academics or big life decisions, in the small moments I tend to live by a philosophy of quite the opposite. My theory is that: Things either go well or you have an interesting story to tell. That being said, I have a story to tell.
Cade, Harper, and I set out Friday in the late afternoon for a campsite west of the city. When we arrived I was very pleased by the desert landscape that surrounded us; however, we quickly realized that although we had food packed, a plethora of water, and all of our sleeping equipment, what we had forgotten was to make a reservation. We had found a place that appeared uninhabited and after only a couple minutes a couple showed up with their reservation for this space. We weighed our options and decided that it would feel worse to get kicked out of another site than to admit defeat in our camping endeavorers now. We ate a bite from our cold dinner and then headed up the road for a sunset hike. With the golden hour lighting and the blooming desert flowers, it was an absolutely magical experience. After sun set we drove home, finished our dinner in the dark over a fire in our back yard, and enjoyed a good night of sleep. Will I make a reservation in the future? Most definitely! Do I regret the oversight from this weekend? Absolutely not.
Wow! You'll have more stories to tell after your year at a place almost diagonally across the middle of the country from your home upstate New York. After teaching many years, we (including younger girls 5th grade and 8th grade) spent took a leave of absense for a year (1982-83) and spent it in the VS program in Brownsville, TX. It was also a year of surprises, stories, and memories! We wish you well as you finish up your year before med school. If you were in Goshen recently, you were also near our place. Visit us sometime. We first visited YOU as a preschooler, I believe, in Harrisonburg. 😀