Sugar Pine

Amara left on July 14 for her 5th summer at Camp Sugar Pine. Amara has been a Girl Scout since kindergarten and even though we’ve been paused the last couple of years with our troop, she is still a Girl Scout and our troop is technically still active. Amara has always loved being a Girl Scout. She has loved going to camp despite there being a break during the pandemic and then again last summer when we opted to go to Spain for language immersion school. Amara understood the first reason and loved the second but was still eagerly awaiting the day until she could return.

This year Amara went as a counselor-in-training. It was her second year doing that. She was thrilled to go Sugar Pine a place she loves dearly and see old friends and counselors, to make new friends and to work with the little Scouts. 

This year, Amara would be gone for three weeks. In the past, her session was 2 weeks. This would be the longest time she would be away from home.  She was a bit nervous about that but we knew she would be fine. However, her dad and sister and I would be in Hawaii, for my continuing education summit. It was a little bit scary, knowing that we would be so far away, on an island in the Pacific, while she was away at camp. What if something went wrong, what if she got sick? What if they were like years before she got evacuated and we were so far away. We had to  trust in the universe and let it go.

Off she went on a Sunday morning, with her large suitcase and backpack. I cried when the bus pulled away. My heart equally sad knowing I would miss her but equally happy that Amara was doing something she not only loved and thrived at but that would challenge her and force her to grow. Being a mama is no easy task at times. That day I felt it all but mostly I was proud that Amara had the bravery to leave home, even with her bit of nerves, to follow her truth.

Don, Havana and I left for Maui and we talked about how we missed Amara and wondered what she was doing on a particular day. We made sure to write letters before she left for camp so she would have then when she arrived (well I did!) We sent mail the days before our departure, from Maui and when we got home. Due to her remote location, we only got one letter from her the entire three weeks. That was tough on me but it was another opportunity to trust in her and the Universe.

Amara returned home on a weekday afternoon. Havana and I went to pick her up (dad was working; I was off) and we made sure to get there early. I could hardly stand still waiting for her to get off the bus and to hug her.  She told us all about her experiences not the way home and not stopped since. It has been apparent that her time at camp has helped her to mature more, supported her in still having fun as a kid (horse back riding, rowing in the lake, bonfires and more) and shown her how strong she is. Amara has a talent with little kids and her sense of responsibility was appreciated by the staff at camp. Amara had a great time (again) at Sugar Pine and I could not be more thankful for these incredible opportunities this has been able to have.