Today as I was driving home from two more RYLA love filled days my ipod ran out of battery and the radio wasnt up to par. So.. I listened to my thoughts. Of how behind I am in blogging and so much more. So many thoughts, way more than my daily quota, but thats why I am here. To spill the thoughts, to spread the feeling, to remember, to inspire, to enjoy...
I am exhausted, ecstatic, in love, thankful, at a loss for words, scared, confused, unsure, passionate, fortunate, excited and so many more things.
Young RYLA 2010 has come to a close. The pictures are up, the kids are home navigating real life, and the counselors are starting to disperse to their respective school year homes. The shirts are in the wash and the feelings of love and excitement and passion stir in my heart wanting to be let out again. I wish I had words to explain the week. To explain the fortune that I feel to be a part of it. The amazingness that comes out of the 8th graders and the staff alike. The sadness of ending my time as a junior counselor and knowing that it is time to let go of my kiddos, of watching them walk away back into life where its hard to keep balance. The inspiration and learning and growing and love and excitement and hope that comes out of a week spent with 8th graders who have so much potential to change the world and to choose to enjoy the good things and to be passionate and inspire others and forever live and spread the RYLA magic.
My team was out of this world. The kids laughed and made me laugh more than I even knew possible. They were so mature and kind hearted and fun and loving and just so great. We barely had any problems. And breezed through the week with our biggest challenge being laughing too much. They all came so far and learned so much about themselves and working with others and more than anything that taught me so much. Their acceptance and empathy blew me away and some of the scary life they've faced broke my heart. I had moments of realizing life is incredibly unfair and that these kids are being forced to grow up faster and faster everyday.. moments where my heart was so heavy for the pain they have felt. And even more moments where their strength and love of life and laughter reminded me that they would be ok. Their intelligence and creativity and ability to work together reminded me that they could get through anything and that if no one else in the world, those 10 kids will make it out on top and do big things for this world cause they are absolutely out of this world kiddos.
They made me so proud minute after minute and the way they came together was so wonderful to watch. We became a family so fast and held on tight to all the quirks and strengths and balancing each other out they we learned to find. We learned about focus and communication and learning to follow as a leader. About struggle and overcoming. About choices, values, and all the millions of pink sticky notes that covered the board with things that keep us on top, with reminders of how wonderful life is. Every single kid did the zip line, they overcame challenges, learned about each other, and more than anything else they were empowered. Seeing in their eyes that they knew they had the ability to do something.. about the struggles at home or problems at school or world wide things.. they were reminded that they have choices and values and control... because in 8th grade sometimes it seems all out of your control. Hearing them say they believed in themselves and that they would go home and make a difference or even just seeing the look when the loud ones chose to be a little more in the background or when they worked hard to pull in the less talkative kid or asked me to share about my life. I saw in their eyes the maturity they found in being empowered, maybe the most important thing about RYLA.
Man just thinking about it gives me goosebumps and butterflies. The speakers were amazing, the feelings of love and acceptance were everywhere and the light from the eyes of those kids could light up the whole world. The staff was out of this world, giving every last drop of themselves to those kids and coming together as a team dedicated to the same thing. We left with tears and smiles and all sorts of memories and laughs. Man it was so good.
Mikalia and Scotty blew it away... doing everything 110% and making that camp exactly what it is supposed to be. The cohesion and focus on the kids and changes that were made were absolutely out of this world. The counselors word's of focus made me tear up. Attitude, friendship, integrity, forgiveness, begin, courage, fight, content, succcess, surmountable, Mikailia's wonderful word about the sun rising everyday and passion. All so good. Such important things to live by. Amazing people who inspire me and make me better minute after minute. I laughed so hard my abs hurt and had much needed conversations and everything about the whole week was absolutely out of this world. These words cant do justice, no words ever will be able to, but man is it so good, so much feeling my heart :)
My journey as a JC is over... my two years are up, and that fits funny in my head but even funnier in my heart. I have learned this is a life long journey. I am passionate and inspired to take this with me much farther than this two years. But still its hard to let go of where it started. There is so much talk about head J.C.. Talk that makes me excited and scared and forces me to remind myself that however it happens it will happen right and that my journey does not depend on the selection of head j.c.. The relationships I have created are more than I could have ever asked for and the encouragement and support that come from this amazing family are something I have been looking for my whole life.
Now I am home and I lay here figuring out how to put it into life. Jess and I chat for hours about life and how scary it is but how we can get past it because of RYLA and something that is inside of us. We talk about being our RYLAself at home and being that person in our worst moments. Thats the true test. Its about continuing to nourish those relationships. Having lunch with Craig, long phone convos with Rolo, driving to Greely to feel the love of RYLA and forever remembering all that this is to me. I'm in denial a little to think that this could be the end of a chapter. But ends of chapters mean begennings of new ones. And i just hope I never forget this feeling, the amazing soaring feeling that comes from a week at RYLA that is unexplainable, and completely impossible to understand.
I am commited to RYLA. I am commiting to doing something big and impactful with all that I have received and learned and conquered with RYLA as my support system. I am so fortunate. So blessed. So many things to be a part of this amazingness.
There is so much more that I could go on and on about forever. And I will come back to that.
In other news.
1. I miss Santa Clara, I'm ready to go back and put this into life
2. Summer is coming to an end real quick
3. Michigan in ONE WEEK
4. Zachy moved to Breck... end of a chapter
5. I'm ready to be done working... ready for something real life to happen
6. I wonder what I will do with my life. I think ill start looking at classes and planning and all of that crazyness
7. I feel like I let myself down, Im skeptical of the things that come out of some peoples mouth. Like Jess said I need a moral compass so I ALWAYS know what to do in that situation... moral compasses, talked lots about those at camp ;)
8. I love my RYLA fam more than life itself. And cannot believe all that they do for me
9. I already have plans in my head for next summer. SLOW DOWN
10. I have so much more to talk about but my eyes are fighting to stay open as usual. I work bright and early so Im goin to bed bright and early.
More to come.. as always
<3 <3 <3
No comments:
Post a Comment