Thursday, September 1st, 2011 at
7:42 pm
July 29 2011 I went up the mountain from Phoenix to Lakeside where Leila’s Lions Camp Tatiyee is located. She’s been going there for about a week every summer for more years than I can remember – before divorce, before going to Camp Civitan. Probably a few years after she started her 10-year run at Arizona Cactus-Pine Girl Scout Camp Maripai – equestrian sessions.
But this one is free because the Lions Club does fundraising all year. I donate, but it makes it possible for people with limited means to go to camp – kids and adults. For some this is the only vacation they get all year. The camp is staff-heavy for the populations that come. Leila goes to the adult mentally challenged week. They also have weeks for hearing impaired, visually impaired, multiply-challenged persons, etc.
Leila just loves to go and I enjoy retrieving her because it is a lovely trip up to the cooler mountains and get a break from the July city heat. And it’s a beautiful drive. There are areas where we have to keep watch for elk. Now, we’ve never seen one, but if I hit one with the car, we’re all probably totaled.
On the way home Leila told me all about the activities she did. Her friend Todd was there this year – he was absent last year because he didn’t submit his application in time and all the spots were filled. Her favorite activity is the go-karting. Leila would love to drive but will never be allowed to, so go-karting is the next best thing. She also loves to eat the kind of food she is not supposed to eat at her home for health reasons.
So we had a little rain, some sunset, and made it in time to Temple for Shabbat services. I had promised her dinner out, so we stopped at Pei Wei restaurant on the way to her house. Chinese is one of her favorites, as is Mexican food, Italian, Thai – you get the picture.
In January we will submit the camp application and medical forms for 2012 – I’m on top of it because I’d never hear the end if I didn’t submit them in time.
Wishing us years of a great coming home from camp experience,
Wendy Weber, the Singing Network Marketer