H O P E

[MartyT]

H O P E

POSTED BY MIKE WELKER 502CI ON NOVEMBER 06, 2018 

 

This past weekend, Sarah and I traveled to Toronto to attend our third Camp Widow there.  We’ve both realized that Camp Widow recharges us. Though we may not be in the active throes of grief on a daily basis, with Megan’s death four years ago, and Drew’s six, there is something about telling our stories, and hearing others’ that brings a warmth that we didn’t realize we were lacking.  

This year though, it was so much more.  I assisted with two of the focus groups on Friday, one for those that lost their partners less than a year ago, and one for widowers. I was given the opportunity and honor of introducing Michele Neff Hernandez for her final keynote address.  I helped Sarah setup for her intensive workshop on Saturday, “Rebuilding our Hearts”, and took my leave to let her shine. Those stories are for a different time though. I will certainly be expanding upon my “introduction speech” soon, because ten minutes is certainly not enough time to convey how much my story has been influenced by Michele.

A few months before Camp, Michele contacted Sarah, and proposed an idea for the message release that is conducted at each and every Saturday banquet at Camp.  It was to be a large sign, displaying the word “Hope”, with a similar look and feel to the large “Toronto” sign just across the street from the hotel. Since we can easily drive to Toronto from Ohio, and I have a pickup truck, logistically, it was easier (and obviously more cost effective) for us to create something and deliver it across the border than it would be to ship something from California.

We worked for weeks creating this.  Purchasing supplies, calculating, measuring, cutting materials, sanding, painting, gluing, and lighting these letters.  As late as the Wednesday night before camp, we were cutting out small cork “bricks” and tying a string to over 200 of them.

It was a lot of work, to say the least, but the reception we received to it was far and away more than we could have ever imagined.  Read on here >>>