Hello Again

Well it's Saturday July 11th & I'm actually running a little ahead of schedule so I wanted to make sure I update my blog before our beach walk this morning.

Yesterday was a tough day, we had 10 amazing women leave & go back to the real world. It sounds weird but here at camp, it's their 'safe bubble' and things are so much easier here & it's just SAFE. Now they go to the real world, but hopefully this time with the tools and knowledge to reach their individual goals. I held back the emotions but deep down I was so sad. You grow a bond with theses women, women who were compete strangers 3 weeks ago. You see them change, you see them truly enjoy themselves here at camp & make friendships that can last a lifetime ... and usually do. I don't want to get in specifics about each woman, but I tell you, camp won't be the same. I sent one girl back to her home; Seattle and gave her orders to stalk my brother at his shop. She plans to go right into his store and call him the names ONLY I call him and I can't wait to hear all about it. After all the goodbyes and hugs yesterday I took a group of women kayaking & I enjoyed it even more this time. I was in a single kayak and I felt so at peace just rowing around Mission Bay without a single concern or worry. But when I did see all the airplanes taking off it made me think "I do not want to leave here, at all." I think more than anything, this experience has taught me to live just for this single moment. I no longer worry about tomorrow and sticking to a 'plan' ... everything will work out, there is a plan & sometimes you just need to sit back and enjoy this ride. I mean look how I ended up here, I'm here for some reason. Nancy (the owner) told me the other night in a meeting that there were hundreds of applicants for my job but she just had this feeling to select me. The same day I spoke with Nancy was the exact day I got laid off at Yellow Book USA. She was so distracted on the phone and I was at a loss for words because I didn't realize how bad I wanted the job. We agreed to talk the next day on the phone & I couldn't sleep, I couldn't think of anything else. I called her 3 times that next days because I didn't even want to start anything on that day without speaking to Nancy. I FINALLY got her on the phone and for the first time, truly sold myself and my passion on how I would be ideal for this job. I feel honored that Nancy, the woman that has ran this camp for 39 years was the one that hired me. I'm here for a reason, my path lead me here ... I don't want to plan out my life anymore really. I don't want to say where I will be next year, hell I truly do not know where I will be next month & for the first time, I'm 100% ok with that.

So my words, STOP ... just slow down & truly appreciate what you have around you at this very moment and live right now. Don't stress about tomorrow and what it brings, don't worry about yesterday and what it delivered. Live your life right now, cherish it b/c it's there for a reason & mostly; Live Better.

-- Today we are off hiking a mountain I believe & I'm really excited about it. Tomrrow as of right now, we are getting 3 new campers :) Next week we have some neat things plans, one of which is rock climbing that I am assisting with! We are also offering a class next week for 5k training. There is a 5k the first weekend of August at Balboua Park and we're gonna sign up as a group ... wow my first ever 5k :) Kinda excited about it & I've heard this park would be THE BEST run one at!!

Hope everyone is safe and healthy back home & now that I have a laptop I am able to stay more and more up to date on the news and that sucky weather back home. If you're getting sick of it, come to Sandy Eggo because it is perfect every single day.

Love and miss you all! Really, I do :)

Dara