Camp Widow East ......

...... was amazing.
As always, but even more so.  I think it gets better every time.

Better and yet ...... sometimes more difficult.

It's so difficult to look into the eyes of someone who's been recently widowed.  We had several people who were only 3 months out.
And quite a few young women who became widowed while they were pregnant.
T.A.N.W.

There is never a shortage of widowed people.  Our ranks keep growing.
No matter how much we hate it and wish they wouldn't.
But at least we at Soaring Spirits are getting the word out:
You are not alone.

The eyes of the recently widowed are exactly how I remember mine looked.  How mine still look in my "after" photos:  empty, lifeless ...... dark.
And so very sad.

But it's interesting.  Their eyes look that way on Friday morning.
Their posture looks what way, too.
But by Sunday morning, only 48 hours later, things are different.  Most of them have a small spark in their eyes.  Not the same spark they had "before", to be sure, but a spark none the less.
And a small spark can grow and grow, over time, until it lights up the entire face.
And body.

Most of them wouldn't believe that.
But then most of them wouldn't have believed they'd feel differently on Sunday than they did on Friday.

And most of them wouldn't have believed how much fun they'd have Saturday night ...... dancing.  And taking goofy pictures in a photo booth.

This is the dress I wore this year:

I love this dress (and the red 4" heels that I had on!).  And not because it had no zipper and I could just pull it on over my head.  Which, I have to say, was a huge positive.
And not because it was sheer at the arms and below my thighs.  But I did love that I could show a little skin, without really showing skin.
I would never have guessed that I'd like that ...... 5 years ago.
Never.

The reason I loved this dress so much is ...... I found it at H&M.
Really.
For under $100.
No, I'm not kidding.
I know!

After Helen Hunt wore an H&M dress to the Oscars ...... I knew that anything was possible.
And that I had to go there and look at their formal dresses ...... dresses I didn't even know they sold.
Before seeing Helen ...... and loving her for being more like "the rest of us".

Here is my picture right before I turned in for the night/morning.  We used glo sticks again this year to light our way to the beach.
I was a beacon of leadership.
Ha!

Here are the pictures from the beach later that night.  It was pretty chilly so the hotel provided towels for us to wrap up in, which explains why we all look like we have blue blankets on.

This moved me ...... they wrote the names of their loved ones in the sand.  And it certainly felt like they were right there, with us.

It was a great weekend.
Not for every single person.
Grief is hard.
And sometimes it drags you so far down that you can't breathe.
Or be around anyone.
Or want to believe that you'll feel better some day.

Even though you will.
In time.

The thing I love most about Camp?
Seeing people returning.
And the spark in their eyes that's bigger than it was the year before.

Camp Widow West is only 2 months away.
And though I know there will be some difficult moments ......
...... I can hardly wait.
:)

Happy Friday, Peeps.
:)