Caught the Spirit

It's been 52 days since my last post. Summer is for getting outside, not sitting infront of a computer. But here's my post for the "Catching the Spirit blog:

Well, that’s a wrap. The final CtS weekend of the summer is in the books, and I’m filled with memories to last a lifetime.

Last weekend I had one of those “this is what I live for” moments. We were sitting around the campfire on Saturday night, it was the end of an incredible day of stewardship, scavenger hunts and sustainable eating activities. I couldn’t think of a better way to end off this day but with a campfire and the Cap River crew. We took turns around the campfire sharing our “magical nature moments”. For some, it was “right now”. For others it was when they’d found a piece of a meteor after watching the most incredible meteor shower of their life. For one of the supervisors, it was riding on the back of a motorbike in France as the sun set behind the mountains, almost like a pastel painting.

Whether the participants shared or not and no matter when or where these moments had taken place, nature is one thing we can all relate to. There isn’t a person who hasn’t had one of those breathtaking moments with the natural world. I am a strong believer that nature is a medicine. It’s a tool to clear the mind of all the stress in our lives. It’s an place where people can feel an instant sense of belonging. I believe that two people- nothing alike- can find in nature, a way to connect.

Then after a downpour of special moments, we took a moment to simply listen to the fire crackle, the trees swaying in the wind, the river gently flowing. After that, I had a new “magical nature moment” in my collection.

As a last camp special, our peer leaders who won’t be joining us next year requested a group sing along to “Lean on Me”. It was as much humming as it was actually singing the lyrics, but when we hit the chorus, everyone was singing along. During that song, I was thinking back to my first experience at Catching the Spirit. My first leadership training where I met the rest of the Cap River crew; the people I would be working with for the summer. But it turned out to be a whole lot more than that. We’ve developed into a family, as cheesy as that sounds. But it was proven later that night after our peer leader debrief. We stayed up for an extra 2 hours, despite being exhausted beyond belief. We sat there recalling memories throughout the years, we created a Cap River mating call and even tried to have a yoga/meditation session.

That right there, is what I call a wonderful summer.

In the words of Nat, “Woo woooo!”

- Lisa Odland
Peer Leader, Capilano River