Listening to a Satellite Sisters podcast the other day, the subject of "fun seekers versus fun suckers" was covered, which is a fairly appropriate topic for our campers. Camp is a place where you literally see attitudes adjust in front of your own eyes. Picture Friday check-in... a steady stream of burned-out gals who've had a hectic week and usually a tough commute to get here. Winding down isn't easy for full-speed-ahead women, and hesitancy about "what have I gotten myself into??" also contributes to the afternoon's buzz. But a hearty dose of gourmet chow blended with fresh girltalk launches the relaxation process. By our first official activity -- the Mixer & Mingler -- fun-SEEKING has begun. What happens after that... stays at camp!
Fun Seekers vs. Fun Suckers
Join Pink Link's "Wrap Yourself in Love" Raffle
In honor of October Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we are announcing a special raffle to win this extraordinary handmade quilt (thank you, Yoga Jen, and your family for the opportunity to donate this beauty to Pink-Link, the Online Breast Cancer Support Network as a fundraiser. Victoria Tashman, Pink-Link founder (photo) expresses her gratitude, too. CLICK HERE TO READ HOW TO ENTER THE RAFFLE.
Camp Offers Getaway for Marine Wives
GUEST POST
By Brigid Brett for the North County Times, San Diego, CA, 10-7-08
Me-Time Ahead. No stress. No makeup. No men. The handpainted signs leading through the pine forest to the lodge in the San Bernardino Mountains make the mission of Camp Getaway clear to each of the 85 women arriving for the weekend. They’ve come from all over the state and as far away as Chicago. Some are there to celebrate decades of being Best Friends Forever, others have been given the weekend as a surprise gift from their husbands. Determined to savor every moment of me-time are six members of Camp Pendleton’s Enlisted Wives Club.
Veronica Duran grins as she reads the list of activities. Canoeing. Tie Dye Clinic. Cinematherapy Chick Flicks. Belly dance class. “I’m just looking forward to that facial, to closing my eyes and doing nothing,” she says.
Veronica isn’t used to doing nothing. An active volunteer and board member of the EWC, she has a five-year old daughter and works full time. “I work and I work and I work. That’s how I do it, that’s how I hold onto my sanity. When your husband is gone so much you have to keep busy or you’ll go crazy.”
She and her husband, Staff Sgt. Carlos Duran, were neighbors when they were kids in South Central LA. He teased her, she hated him and their parents joked that one day they’d fall in love and get married. They did. Twelve years later they’re still together, at least when he’s not deployed.
"People keep asking if it gets easier each time he has to go away. No. It gets harder. Each time it hurts more,” she says.
Veronica’s husband has been deployed five times since their daughter was born: once to Japan, once to Egypt and three times to Iraq, where he was injured by shrapnel when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb and then again when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his campsite.
“It’s been hard, very hard. But the good thing about living on base is that you can always find somebody who’s been through what you’re going through – whatever it is.”
When their daughter was a toddler Veronica bought a cardboard playhouse and plastered it with photos of her dad. “Whenever he came home I took millions of pictures so she’d have something to remember him by. But still she’d go up to strange men and say ‘Daddy!’ It was embarrassing.”
Veronica uses the word grateful a lot – she is grateful to be living on base, grateful for the support of the EWC. And she keeps repeating how grateful she is to have been given the gift of this weekend.
For the second time this year, Patti Londre, Camp Getaway’s “Fearless Leader” has made it possible for a group of Camp Pendleton spouses to attend the camp free of charge.
“They are the unsung heroes. They do so much for others and so little for themselves,” she says. “A weekend of fun and relaxation is almost unheard of for the wives of deployed soldiers.”
When the camp’s yoga teacher Jennifer Mumford saw Patti’s email requesting donations to bring another group of military wives to camp, she forwarded it to her mother, Florence Patrick.
“I know what they’re going through,” Florence said to her daughter. Her husband had served in Vietnam and the memories of worrying about him when he was away at war and having to take care of her home and family on her own are still fresh. She was glad she could do something to support this new generation of military wives.
Campers chat in front of the crackling fireplace, their feet up on a huge coffee table that spills over with magazines. Others sit around tables playing Monopoly and sipping Mad Housewife wine. “Oh baby baby it’s a wild world,” Cat Stevens croons in the background.
During dinner Ann Marie Brysiak calls home to check on her three kids. Her 15 year old son assures her all is well – that he’s even bathed his little brother. Ann’s jaw drops. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s used to being the man of the house. I feel guilty because I count on him way more than I should.”
Ann Marie’s husband, Gunnery Sgt. Ed Brysiak, has been deployed to Iraq since January. He has four more months to go until he’s back home. In 2007 he was deployed to Mongolia for six months and to Djibouti Africa from July 2004 until February 2005.
There isn’t a day that her five year old doesn’t wake up and ask if his dad’s coming home, but it’s CJ, her 15 year old she worries about the most. She worries about all the teenage sons of deployed fathers.
“They are growing up without strong male role models. There’s so little for the teenagers on Camp Pendleton to do. I took CJ go-carting but of course it wasn’t the same.”
Like Veronica, Ann’s speech is peppered with the word “grateful” and she says she never takes any of the privileges of living on base for granted. Right before camp she flew to Washington DC where she was recognized by Marine Headquarters Group for her volunteer work with military families. Her next project, she says, is to create programs for the teenage boys of deployed fathers.
After dinner everyone belts out songs from their pink Super Duper Singalong books, followed by a funny-and-embarrassing- story-telling competition. Two of the Enlisted Wives, Jennifer Dipper and Ann Martinez, have the other campers shrieking with laughter.
“Woo, she’s good. She should think about doing stand-up,” one of the campers comments when Jennifer delivers her punch-line.
Jennifer's husband Sgt. Erik Dipper was an aircraft mechanic before going into Camp Pendleton’s Wounded Warrior Battalion where he is being treated for post traumatic stress disorder and possible traumatic brain injury. He served in Okinawa for 13 months and was then deployed twice to Iraq for seven months each time.
Jennifer says her husband takes great pride knowing that each Huey and Cobra he worked on was ‘Mission Capable.’ Now medically non-deployable, Sgt. Dipper wants to be an advocate and support other injured Marines.
“The service and sacrifice doesn’t end when a Marine comes home,” she says. “The whole family must readjust to the changes and affects that have occurred as a result of the last deployment. Support is key to our families surviving the physical, mental and emotional challenges.”
Jennifer is an artist and has brought two tiny t-shirts to camp so she can tie-dye them for their one year old daughter.
“You look so relaxed. Your skin is glowing,” Brandi Porter tells Elizabeth Sparks who has just come back from her facial. One of the campers donated a facial treatment to each of the Enlisted Wives.
“Really?” Liz blushes and touches her cheek.
They’re sitting at a table with other campers making beaded key chains. Liz’s keychain says SEMPER FIESTY and Brandi’s PROUD USMC WIFE.
Brandi, who has a smile as broad as her Texas accent, is the only Enlisted Wives Club member who doesn’t live at Camp Pendleton. Her husband is stationed at Miramar Airbase where she teaches ‘Marine Corps 101’ – to other Marines spouses.
Most people are aware that deployments are hard on a marriage, she says, but few realize that recruiting duty can be even harder. Brandi has survived both scenarios and doesn’t know what she would have done if she hadn’t been able to call her mother and wail into the phone for the three years that her husband was a recruiter and left for work at 5 a.m. and only got home after 10 pm – six days a week.
She has a plaque on her living room wall that reads, “Home is where your Marine is.”
Liz’s husband is home on base, watching their two young sons. Before his seven month deployment to Iraq – their older son was two at the time -- they were stationed in Japan for three years. He was deployed for one and a half years of that time while she remained in Japan.
Liz makes and sells clothes to the other Marine wives on base. “I have been sewing since I was about four years old. I used to watch my momma sew and then I would make a copy for my dolls,” she writes on her MySpace blog. “In Japan it was difficult for the other wives to find ball gowns in their size (for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball) so I started making them dresses…. and here I am with Littlebits Fashions.”
Late that night, flashlights in hand, the Marine wives crunch their way across a bed of pine needles to their cabin.
“It’s so quiet,” whispers Veronica as she crawls into her wooden bunk. “I hope I’ll be able to sleep.”
By the closing ceremony on Sunday the six women have canoed, belly-danced, re-connected with their inner smore-makers, soaked in the hot tub and giggled in their bunks until the early hours of the morning. They’ve won the TV Land Fun Dinner costume contest as Gilligan’s Island and tied for first place with another group in the Scavenger Hunt competition. When Brandi gets the Camp Cheerleader award, the other Marine wives yell “Oorah!”
Then, one by one they stand and fight back tears as they express their gratitude to Patti and the other staff and campers.
“I cannot thank you enough. This weekend has made me feel like a child again,” says Ann Martinez. Her husband, Lance Cpl. Martinez is returning from Iraq in a week.
“My husband called from Iraq this morning,” says Ann Brysiak. “He wants me to thank all of you for this weekend.” Tears roll down her cheeks. “He says that when he knows I’m being appreciated and taken care of it makes it so much easier to do his job. He wants you all to know how thankful he is.”
For more information on Camp Getaway go to www.campgetaway.com and for more information on Camp Pendleton’s Enlisted Wives Club go to www.enlistedwivesclub.com
Click here to read the online version of this article. Thank you, Brigid!
How to Prep for a Scrapbook Retreat
Occasionally, Camp GetAway hosts a “scrapbook camp,” we have one coming up October 24-26. From our experience, here are some insider tips for attendees of ANY getaway for scrapbooking:
1. Read all your attendance materials when you receive them, don’t wait until a few days before the getaway. Helpful info pops out at you. For example, for a camp in the mountains, a minor but very important detail is bringing a really strong flashlight, since its pitch dark after sundown.
2. Pack an additional small table lamp. Yes, the lighting in your crop room may be perfect. Or no, you may find yourself wishing for a little more light directed specifically on your spot. Your own lamp, put it where you want.
3. Pack and bring… everything. Heck, why not? You can always leave a bunch of stuff in your car, but what if you finish your first AND second projects and really wish you had the photos for your third? Fill ‘er up.
4. No need to pre-purchase “just in case” supplies. Just bring your checkbook. Supplies abound at these retreats and there is usually something you see you’d like to use in your project. Buy it on-site.
5. Don’t panic when you first arrive. The natural tendency is to feel overwhelmed with all you wish to accomplish and fearful that you won’t reach your goals. No worries, once you are at your retreat, take a deep breath, wrap your head around what you want to do FIRST and start. SECOND comes right after that. You will be amazed at how much you accomplish.
6. Treat yourself to massages or wine tasting or hikes while there. A retreat is just that – getting away from your daily routine. Added activities will greatly enhance your experience and return you to your family refreshed, but also having accomplished your big goal, massive cropping.
7. If you don’t have a cropping buddy to attend with you, come solo. Women are women, and within a short amount of time, fellow croppers are your girlfriends. No loneliness happens at these retreats.
Enjoy your autumn and Good Cropping!
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