When a horrific heartbreak occurs, you sometimes wonder if it really happened or if it was a dream. Four years ago my dream of Jared coming home from Iraq turned into a horrible nightmare that constantly rears its ugly head. As I reflect on these past four years and the experiences I have had, I am amazed at how many wonderful people we have met, bonded with, and shared our heartaches with as a result of this nightmare. During this same time period I be-gan struggling with the direction the Foundation was headed and if we were providing the right services to our military families. Last year it be-came a dream of mine to provide a camp ad-venture for the children of the fallen in Big Bear by the summer of 2012.
Our board and vol-unteers made this dream come true in June. Last month we booked our first camp session at Camp Whittle in Fawnskin, California for August 2012. Picking out the camp and the fundraising was not nearly as difficult as it will be finding the chil-dren to attend the camp. After these children lose their military parent, they usually relocate from the military base fairly soon afterwards and this could mean re-locating out-of-state for many of them. There are many grief camps available for children who have lost a parent in a war but they have a different structure to their environment then we will have at Camp Hero 46.
Our camp will focus on gaining and not on losing. They already are
familiar with the pain of losing a gigantic part of their lives but now they will be given the chance to gain. They will have the opportunity to gain new friends and experi-ences that will last them a lifetime. The bonds made with others who have experienced the same loss and who know this void first hand will help these children cope and give them the confidence to face their future with the knowl-edge they will survive this horrible tragedy.
This nightmare of losing Jared will never go away but it is slowly being overshadowed by this wonderful dream of putting a smile back on a child’s face and watching them having some fun again, if even for a little while.
Laurie