This week is the last week of Therapeutic Recreation Summer Camp. It only lasts 6 weeks. This last week is always kind of bittersweet for the FRIENDS. They are SO EXCITED at the beginning, like the first week, and then they fuss with each other for 4 weeks...and then they spend the last week all nearly in tears because it's over.
Every.Single.Year.
I'm not even kidding.
This year, this week has held even more emotional weight, because the FRIENDS found out that Ms. Sherrie is resigning.
It didn't come as a huge shock to me. Ms. Sherrie has been through a lot this year. I think she just needs a break...and a change.
I'm reeeeeeeally hoping that Sherrie will stay involved. She has been an integral part in maintaining the Therapeutic Recreation program. No one fights harder for the FRIENDS than Sherrie does. Even tho I have full confidence in Alanna, as she takes Sherrie's job, I really don't want to see Sherrie go.
So, on Tuesday, the FRIENDS went swimming and then came back to the TR Center to eat lunch and hang out. On Wednesday, they had Yoga. They had it outside...and OH MY GOODNESS, they all thought they were going to die. Maybe some people might over-do it, participating in Yoga outside on a summer morning...but the FRIENDS don't typically over-exert themselves for any reason...so there was absolutely no danger of them over-heating.
But not to hear them tell it! (wink!)
The Youth program of Summer Camp came out to the TR Center and did a cooking segment. They made tacos with all the fixin's. Clark said the kids were all pretty excited about it. And JOSHUA was excited because the younger group had some tacos left over...and even tho he had taken a BUH-GUH for lunch...and chips, dip and yogurt...he decided to eat two of the left-over tacos.
Because YUM.
And then he ate his burger, and brought the rest of his lunch home.
Today, the adult FRIENDS went back to the pool, and then had lunch back at the Center. It's Ms. Sherrie's birthday. I got up early this morning, and made brownies for her BIG DAY! She was so excited that she almost snatched them right out of my hands!
So, during the re-cap of his day, I was able to retrieve these little nuggets from Joshua:
*After lunch, he and Jenni sat outside because the weather was so nice. He said, "Jenni laid on me a couple of times."
I know what he meant...that she put her head on his shoulder...BUT STILL.
Ohhhh...MYWORD.
*And, I knew they would end up crying before the end of the day. Joshua said, "all of a sudden, Jenni started crying. This old lady who works with the little kids came over to help. I told her, "she just needs me...it's kind of my thing."
*"Then, I looked over and Julia was crying...I should've sent the old lady over there."
*"Michael was over-the-top today...being too romantic with Melissa. It took me, Jenni, Julia AND MARCY to get him to stop."
Now, Joshua and Jenni are in a Facebook status-posting competition. Joshua wrote this long paragraph about how much he loved Ms. Sherrie and how sad he was to see her go. IN HIS POST, he proclaimed himself as the leader and only spokesman for the Therapeutic Recreation group...and then, after Jenni read it, she fired up her engines. We had us a little Facebook holy war going on in about 3 minutes.
He deleted the post, but not after declaring to me that Jenni was being the rudest of the rude.
Seriously. This is for everyone who has ever told me "oh, they're so loving," when referring to children with Down Syndrome.
In the end, we had a talk. He just now posted again...this time apologizing for what he said in the previous post, and taking full responsibility for hurting feelings and all of that. And he made sure to say that they are ALL family in the Therapeutic Recreation program.
Better...MUCH better.
"Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances." Proverbs 25:11
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