At first I think I felt anger. Anger towards the camp, anger towards Avi. And then you realize that it is less anger than disappointment. We really felt that this would be a good place for Avi for the two weeks. He has moved well beyond the behaviors that he was displaying and we will work with his therapist in the next sessions to try and figure out what was going on. For now, Avi will be on a flight out of Denver later this afternoon and I will pick him up this evening in Newark. The next week will be complicated as we had planned our schedule based on him not being here, but we will get through; what other choice do we have.

Or course we (and others) are asking the question “should we have sent Avi in the first place?” Perhaps he was not ready to be away, maybe we should have tried something closer to home, etc. I honestly do not think it was a mistake. I know that Avi had some positive times at camp and he had fun. He challenged himself to do things that he never did before, and never thought he would do. The other day when the group went horseback riding, he would not participate. I knew this would happen as I knew that he had some sort of fear or dislike of horses. On Tuesday, they went on their Massa (I believe this word is from a word for test, where the trip is testing their abilities). The group went on horseback to the edge of the ranch and camped out, including cooking their own dinner and breakfast, playing games and having a campfire. Avi was allowed to go by mountain bike with one of his counselors. Well, yesterday morning he decided that he wanted to go back to base camp on horseback. They radioed back to camp and another horse was brought up for him. That was an amazing accomplishment which truly validates the use of the word Massa for these trips. So were we right in trying this? I say yes, because despite the problems, there were positives and Avi did grow for being there.

I am reminded of the line in Batman Begins (and the other Batman movies): “Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.” This week was another trial for Avi and for us, and although we “fell”, we will pick ourselves up and move on, and in the end be better for having fallen.

The post Avi is coming home today first appeared on The Long and Winding Road.

They finally got to the hotel very late and they went to bed. The hotel is a simple motel near the airport. Certainly not someplace they would stay for a few days but fine for a night. This morning Avi called me at work and asked for help getting Marsha’s tablet on the internet. We got that working and then he and I skyped for a few minutes. It was good to see him and Marsha. The continental breakfast they promised was nothing special, so she tool Avi to a Diner across the parking lot from the hotel. Marsha said it was like the took one of those silver trailer diners from NJ and plopped it in the middle of nowhere! Avi got eggs and hot chocolate and hopefully had enough to eat to hold him through until he gets to camp.

They got the shuttle from the hotel to the airport and they went to baggage pickup #10 which is where they are supposed to meet the group. Avi called me just a few moments ago from the airport and he was the first camper there. There are other kids in various places in the airport being picked up by other counselors and they will all be together by 11:00 Denver time (1:00pm Eastern). So within the next 30 minutes, Avi should be on his way to camp! The camp will be uploading photos each night so hopefully I will have some photos of Avi to post very soon!

So in honor of Avi’s two weeks of camp in Colorado, here is a video of John Denver singing Rocky Mountain High.

Enjoy!

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_WyUwNPOzQ

The post Ramah Day 1 first appeared on The Long and Winding Road.