Spina Bifida Family Camp

This weekend we are enjoying a family getaway accompanied by about 15 other families. It is SB family camp weekend and we are all at Camp John Marc. Camp John Marc is constructed in a way that people with special needs can easily access everything from the kitchen to the swimming pool. It is lavish and beautiful with deer grazing on the lawns and large sprawling oak trees. This camp is also where Aaron will spend a week of every summer enjoying complete freedom from his ever- present parents. It will be a wonderful experience for him when he turns 8.
Family camp originally came about as a help for those parents and children who shy away from that step to be independent. These weekends give parents and their kids a time to meet other children who will be at camp when it is their turn to go. We are an automatic group that understands the little things when it comes to SB.
For Aaron, I hope this weekend also allows him to bond with other people living with SB. He lives in a world with a different norm than his own. Understandably, this causes him frustration. So, this weekend lets him see all his friends and say to himself, look there are children living with SB just like me. No need to worry about what other people might think about his eye patch, cathing or scar here. At this camp people in general talk about the weather, what activities they will do for fun and the placement and size of their scars.
Being a family camp, it also lets Isaac meet new friends and try new experiences. This year Isaac climbed the climbing wall. I was very proud of this effort because it was such a challenge. He went at least 20 feet in the air and did it with only one little glitch. But hey, his mom wouldn’t do it at all. I am still amazed at his daring!
Tomorrow we drive home and back to our daily lives. We take with us the knowledge that we are not alone in our constant struggles. Their is a group of moms, dads and kids who are surviving the same trials that we do and that is comforting.