Holiday Hiatus Over

All,

Sorry I took such a long break without notice, but it was holiday time. I know that without school I don't really have much of an excuse for taking a break, but, surprisingly I've been on the computer a lot less since I've been home. So...what should I talk about? What I got for Christmas, maybe? I think not. If you're interested, e-mail me (jmbelch@ncsu.edu). I think I'll write about something I've been thinking a lot about since before Christmas.

As I said in my first post, I've worked at summer camps for the past four summers. It's been a great run, and I loved almost every minute of it (those of you who have ever worked with kids knows what I mean). During my first two summers I worked at camp Rockfish near Fayetteville. Other than the highly motivated staff, there was nothing too exceptional about this camp, except that it was a part of Operation Purple. Haven't heard about it? I can't say I'm surprised, but it's a great program. The gist of Operation Purple, is that it is a program for children who have a parent deployed in the past year, or is currently deployed. The NMFA (National Military Family Association) runs OP, and its aim is to send military kids to summer camps for free. I can't say enough about the amount of good this program does for these kids and for the staff at these camps. I won't say too much more about OP, but if you're interested in learning more about it, check out its website here.

While thinking about OP, I couldn't help but think about the kids that I've come into contact while working at an OP camp. In general, the kids don't come from the best family situations--the boys especially. And, that's not all that surprising. They don't have a father figure at home, and their dad is most likely being shot at. That could make anyone's life much more interesting. I specifically remember two situations from my two summers at that camp. First, a brother-sister pair in my middle school leadership group who confided in me that they came from an abusive home. Without going into too much detail, their dad showed signs of PTSD which manifested in physical and verbal abuse, and their older sister was verbally/emotionally abusive towards them. And, second I remember when I found an eight year old boy crying, only to be informed the reason that he was crying was because he was missing his dad. Not an uncommon sight at camp, but I came to find out that his dad had been killed in action a year ago.

So, where am I going with this? I must admit, I'm not entirely sure. But, I guess where I'm going with this is to say that this Christmas, while I was spending time with my family exchanging gifts and eating entirely too much, I couldn't help but think of the kids I'd come in contact with. I thought about all the kids that I'd come in contact with that weren't going to have their fathers home for the holidays, the kids that didn't know who their dad is, and the kids that would be lucky to have one present under the tree. And, what prompted this line of thought, you ask? Oh...just that terribly sappy Christmas song about the shoes. I'll admit that as I listened to it on the radio I couldn't bring myself to change the station, because it prompted me to think of those kids. It made me smile and shed a couple tears all at the same time. So, I know I'm not the only one who thought this this holiday season, but did I really do enough for those in need over the past year? I'd like to think so, but there are days where I'm not sure. So, yes, I guess this is just another sappy holiday themed blog entry, but I needed to write this down. I don't really know why, since no one reads this (chuckling, transitioning to "bawwwww"), but it needed to be done. Anyway, happy early New Year, and I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.