On The Two Camps

Most often when I use the word "family", I use it in a very broad sense.

This Thanksgiving will be spent with family. I have no blood relationship with the persons with which I will be spending Thanksgiving. To me, family has to do with SO MUCH more than blood.

In my lifetime there have been two camps of important people. The first camp does have to do with my birth and heritage. From them I got my curly hair, pale skin, and silly streak. The second camp of people is very large. That camp is full of the people that have impacted my life positively.

The family I plan to dine with on Thursday is from my second camp. We aren't related. I didn't spend my childhood with them. I did, however, grow up with them. They took on the responsibility of shepherding me through some tough years of my life. They were there for me when my first camp couldn't be. They helped shape the "me" I am today.

I have no statistical data, but I feel assured in saying that if we could draft our own personal "broad definition families", each person would pull together a pretty unique looking group. I think everyone has a second camp.

This Thanksgiving I'm super grateful for my super large second camp. I claim so many people in my "broad definition family"! We may not share bloodlines, but we've done life together. We share a bond. And....we're cute!

On Small Communities and Large Needs

On more than one occasion I've described the community where I live as "a God forsaken cow town". It is directly opposite anyplace I've ever lived size-wise.

Small towns do have perks, like less traffic. I find myself torn, though. I can't decide if less traffic is a decent trade for a general lack of specific resources.

I coach a rag-tag high school gymnastics team. I call them rag-tag because they give heart and soul to the sport of gymnastics with very few items that gymnasts in a larger market would take for granted, like basic equipment necessary for the sport. I LOVE them for that.

I spent my afternoon crafting a letter that I plan to send to 2 large gymnastics equipment manufacturers. I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask for equipment donations.

As I was writing the letter I couldn't help but feel several things. First, I feel very proud of the girls at TA who love gymnastics so much that they endure the conditions in which we train. They really are awesome girls. I'm also grateful that our school continues our program and recognizes what an opportunity it is for students in our county. Secondly I'm frustrated that we live in a market that can't afford the basics. I'm also frustrated that the playing field between sports isn't even within our own school. We live in a society where unfortunately economics are solely numbers driven. How cool would it be if each activity was granted needs based on value and specialty instead of just granting the most money to the sport that fills the most seats or fields the most athletes?

I'm generally a very low key, not-very-activist-type of person. I'm feeling, however, really desperate for my program. I can't describe adequately how much I love gymnastics. I want the girls where I live to have the same experience with it that I did. In order for that to happen, our team needs some stuff.

Our equipment is failing and the school district has limited the types of activities we can do to fund raise. That's so frustrating. I'm at a loss. I need a person who specializes in development to help me boost our program.