Given Madison's increased excitement over the five XMO camps she participated in, I had extremely high expectations and was still completely blown away! Add to that many of the trainers and athletes pulled me aside to share their fondness for Madi... it was very touching. Nathan, a BFF of Madi's wore her pajama bottoms and his snow boots to the early morning worship/meetings and also during a couple of evening events. (I learned that Madi wore those red Bullwinkle PJs and her snow boots during the XMO mornings). Funny... in San Francisco she wore snow boots with the hospital garb. Another BFF Marleigh wore something of Madison's at camp every day too. Both of these BFFs, #purelove.
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I could go on and on about XMO. Where else can blind youth have the opportunity to ski, drive a snowmobile, go screaming down a hill on an tube and most importantly to me... learn from and connect with their peers and without their parents. I watched Madison learning acceptance with her cancer support peeps, and emotionally and spiritually at XMO. Last week there was an 18 year old who recently lost his sight. He mentioned to me that his friends more or less disappeared, pun intended, his girlfriend dumped him, and he couldn't be completely honest with his parents because they would pep-talk him, try to fix him. At XMO he connected with tribal elder youth and even sang during the talent show with two Grammy Award winners, Jarrett and Alvin. They had both been asked to sing at the Oscars last Sunday but given the date conflict they chose XMO. This reinforces what I heard last night... whatever is in your heart is the only truth... it's all that matters.
So last night: my mom and I saw a speaker at the Cancer Support Community, Michael Eselun. He serves as a chaplain at UCLA in the oncology unit. Madison, Angela and I had the opportunity to see him speak a couple of years ago, he's hands-down awesome! Given all of the treatments that Madison plowed through and Michael's credentials and experiences, I asked him a couple of easy questions during the Q&A last night: is there a heaven, do all things really happen for a reason, and do you believe in Karma? Simple enough, aye?! He's very eloquent: he reiterated that the only things that matter are to the degree we assign them meaning, and whatever is in our hearts is the only truth. Me? I believe in heaven. I believe there is sin in the world but cancer, blindness, and other tragedies are indiscriminate, all things do not happen for a reason, and Karma... yepper: I don't believe in coincidence.
Dear Madi - we couldn't decide what to do with your remains in Colorado so I brought them home... I'll take a piece of you back to Colorado again next year. I was 22 once and understood you wanting to spread your adult wings, charitable and fun-loving nature at prior XMO camps without moms or me there... I was built the same way. You were right! The XMO experience was beyond incredible, and thank you for helping me give me back to myself. Love, Dad
So last night: my mom and I saw a speaker at the Cancer Support Community, Michael Eselun. He serves as a chaplain at UCLA in the oncology unit. Madison, Angela and I had the opportunity to see him speak a couple of years ago, he's hands-down awesome! Given all of the treatments that Madison plowed through and Michael's credentials and experiences, I asked him a couple of easy questions during the Q&A last night: is there a heaven, do all things really happen for a reason, and do you believe in Karma? Simple enough, aye?! He's very eloquent: he reiterated that the only things that matter are to the degree we assign them meaning, and whatever is in our hearts is the only truth. Me? I believe in heaven. I believe there is sin in the world but cancer, blindness, and other tragedies are indiscriminate, all things do not happen for a reason, and Karma... yepper: I don't believe in coincidence.
Dear Madi - we couldn't decide what to do with your remains in Colorado so I brought them home... I'll take a piece of you back to Colorado again next year. I was 22 once and understood you wanting to spread your adult wings, charitable and fun-loving nature at prior XMO camps without moms or me there... I was built the same way. You were right! The XMO experience was beyond incredible, and thank you for helping me give me back to myself. Love, Dad
