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This camp is the brainchild of Melody Ross and
her sister, Cathy Wilkins. Melody has been thru so much crap in her life
(personal AND business) and she is the perfect person to be running this.
She’s emotional, creative and passionate. Cathy is the calming force and
the one that makes Melody’s ‘dreams’ become a reality. She’s also one of
the cooks for the camps!!
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24 women converged on this camp. All walks
of life, all different places in their life. Oldest was 65 and youngest
was an 18 year old niece of a woman (who attended also) that had given her the
trip for a graduation present. Most were in their 40’s and 50’s.
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It was not what I expected. I expected the
touchy feely stuff, etc., but not to the extent it was. The goal of the
camp is to help women heal from past hurts, move fwd, find their voice, empower
them to live life on a new level. The ‘red carpet’ is a safe place to
dump it … we were told that nothing leaves this area.
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Was not prepared for the level of HURT and PAIN
in these women’s lives. They just laid it all out there, looking for a
way to move passed it and heal. I had never experienced anything like
that.
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As I texted my sisters on Thursday morning
after a particularly brutal ‘share’ time …. We are so incredibly blessed to
have had such a carefree safe secure childhood. So many women in this
group had lousy childhoods, had bad memories of their fathers (emotionally
absent, etc) and mothers that didn’t meet their basic needs … I don’t know that
there was one woman in the group that didn’t have some issue from
CHILDHOOD. If the worst thing we experienced was
that Mom wouldn't let us have a DingDong whenever we wanted, then we are waaay
ahead of most of the world! LOL
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Food was amazing … we didn’t want for anything.
We had lunch and dinner in Melody’s house. I cleaned
the Art Barn frig out of Diet Pepsi more than once (I had another woman
that was hitting it hard w/ me and we laughed about it) There were snacks
and drinks (non-alcoholic) available to us the entire time we were in the
Art Barn (the location for the ‘red carpet sessions’ and the art sessions)
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I want an Art Barn
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So am I happy I went? Not ‘thrilled’ I
guess … I did enjoy it, and I did enjoy meeting the women. They were
sincere and lovely people – and thankfully I found a kindred spirit that had
the same sense of humor as I did – we were assigned seating for art portions
(due to having so many supplies to leave laid out for the week) and she was
seated by me. She was a lot of fun (and what probably saved the trip for
me!)
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Yes there is always one person that is
off-the-charts annoying in any group of women. And this group had
TWO. By the end of the week I really had hit my saturation point w/ both
of them.
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I would not go back – but only because it really
wasn’t what I was looking for. It was invaluable to those women that
needed that safe place to share and heal …. And I would very much recommend it
to a woman that is trying to overcome obstacles in her life that she just
cannot climb above. It is a very safe place.
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Worth the money? For me … no. Again
… for some women it was worth every penny.
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The art portions were not what I expected
either. I had hoped Melody would be sharing new techniques and actively participating
in the art sessions. (she’s a great artist!) However, it was clear
that art sessions were only for ‘therapy’. She gave prompts that we were
suppose to use as a spring board to get going in the creative process.
She actually left the barn during those times, wasn’t looking at anyone’s work,
etc. I believe she did that so that no one would think they were under
any kind of pressure to create a certain way, and she wouldn’t be commenting on
ANYONE’s art, making someone else possibly feel sub-par because she didn’t
comment on theirs. Our art was OURS alone.
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My takeaways ... my life is blessed beyond
measure. My past is what has formed me into who I am today. I own
my mistakes wholly and I have learned from them and moved fwd, which is why I
had nothing to share. I don’t let them rule my life, they are NOT who I
am today, which is why I had nothing to share. I am okay (that is
stunning, as I never thought I was ok! LOL). Hmmmmm I guess I did get
something from this after all, eh? LOL
Did I mention I want an Art Barn?!!?!?
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