We were having a meeting last week about our upcoming May Brave Girl Camp retreat.....getting so excited, and talking about how hard it is to put the experience into words....or to even want to try. Can I tell you again how much I love having my big sister as a partner in this dream? She is too phenomenal to try to explain in words....but she has everything I lack. She lets nothing slip between the cracks....she puts up with my wild ideas and my wild mind and my random thoughts and my trouble with focusing.....none of this would ever happen without her and my nieces.....this is a HUGE production and everyone has their whole heart and soul into it. We have so much fun....but we are all PASSIONATE about making each camp INCREDIBLE. Something this wonderful could never happen without this much passion for the end goal of changing lives in positive ways in 5 magical days.
We have done this 3 times now, getting ready for our 4th...with 2 more retreats after that, already ALMOST sold out.....BUT STILL...there is this feeling...something I can only begin to describe as a sacredness...that surrounds the whole experience....and it takes a while to let it settle in before you can really even think to talk about it.....
to try to put it into words....
But I will try...I must....I never want to forget a single detail of ANY of the camps...just like our camp last October....I love each of these women so much. I will never forget them...they will always be a part of my life...til the day I die.
Now that we are just a month away from our May camp......I think it's time that I try to document the experience that we had with the incredible women of our February camp......where women came from all over the United States......women there who I admire, who I adore....who I Iearned so much from, and who were so open to what I wanted to teach them, too........
Now that we have held 3 retreats.......2 "official" ones, and have 3 more nearly sold-out this year......I feel and trust the reality of stepping into the life that I have been preparing for...well, pretty much my whole life. This doesn't feel like just a dream anymore.....it is crazy wonderful to be standing in the middle of so many dreams come true...and living it, breathing it........sharing it and meeting it head-on....with women even more incredible than I dreamed they could ever be.(both the women who make this happen and the women who find their way here as participants) Next month...we have women flying from many other places in the WORLD, not just the country...........so....the dream of creating a worldwide community of women to support and lift each other up through life's journeys is real and happening...and EVERYONE is invited....soon we will be bringing the BRAVE GIRL CLUB mission to the web in a fabulous and powerful way so we can include everyone who wants to be a part of it..........(one thing at a time!)
It still leaves me in awe thinking that just about a year ago........I was in a career position that would never have allowed me to do what I am doing now...just too demanding...just not the right thing......and I kept dreaming the dream with my sister.......surrounding myself with others who had the same dream...or parts of it....and here I am sitting here doing this..........and how it feels even so much better than I ever could have dreamed up....I love how life is like that.....(and how the path to now had some really rough spots....steep hills...muddy bogs....thorny paths.....but that I had to get through that to get to HERE...there was really no other way)
anyway....
Brave Girl Camp is awe-inspiring. It is life-changing...and WHAT IS IT that is so life-changing? It really is not one thing..it is not one person or one strategy......it is a combination of really amazing women on staff who are there to give a bunch of other amazing women who show up from all over the place in all sorts of curcumstances the most incredible experience of their lives. It is those women who show up giving the staff the most amazing experiences too........It is creative safety...it is raw authenticity....it is unabashed beauty and truth.......it is life's deliciousness....it is absolute willingness to learn and also to share......it is listening...really really listening....it is forging friendships that can never be unbound......it is seeking...and finding.......it is unwrapping, peeling back layers of unnecessary muck and hurdles that keep us from moving forward....it is laughter, it is music...it is dancing........it is color, alive color........on paintbrushes, in personal stories and growing underneath new little buds of possibility.........
it is goodness....in every imaginable form.
Isn't my sister beautiful???? She is truly the most phenomenal woman........ever.
This time.....some unique highlights are a very wonderful keynote talk by one of my most respected peers...and also now a true friend, Jenny Doh
What I loved most about Jenny's talk....her story.......her total authentic sharing of all that she is......was that she wore these adorable bear ears during her keynote!!! I love that....THEN, she played the guitar and sang to us....with all that Jenny is known for...would you believe that she is also an incredible singer?
We also had a night of INCREDIBLE live music...........where my niece brought her full sized harp and sang the most surreal incredible funky beautiful tunes to us while she played like the artsy bohemian angel that she is......none of us will ever forget it. I even got to sing a number with her and my 3 sisters....dreamy, I tell ya....dreamy.
I had several very close friends there this time, it just worked out that way....and it was so meaningful to have them there.....yet...EVERYONE is a very close friend by the end of the week....it's just the magic of Brave Girl Camp that bonds you like sisters for life........you've got each other's back......you are rooting for each other.....looking out for each other...staying in touch....there at the drop of a hat to do whatever needs to be done to help a sister out. It is incredible to me that this bond has lasted for the women for each camp.........I have made the dearest friends of my life...and so many friends have found each other when they would not have otherwise..........we gotta find each other, us crazy artsy women who want to change the world....
This may be the most photos I have ever posted at once...but I am gonna post them all........they are just too wonderful.
This fabulous girl danced and painted and found her soul.........it was an incredible thing to witness...one that none of us will ever forget......
Every day we laughed, we created and we enjoyed the beautiful outdoors to clear our minds for all of the brave and fabulous dreams that would soon make our minds their home....
We also had to walk a lot to make room for the most incredible meals that were waiting for us.....every few hours....whew......no words to describe the food!!!
Yep......lots and lots of yummy food....lots and lots of beautiful outdoorsiness.......but the BEST THING OF ALL....lots and lots of discoveries.....lots and lots of new goals made....lots and lots of bravery discovered....lots of courage uncovered...lots of forgiveness....lots of moving forward.....lots of support....and THE MOST INCREDIBLE FRIENDSHIPS formed and held onto....
AND WE MADE ART....
AND WE MADE ART...
AND WE MADE ART....
then we made some more art............and that's what helped us to remember and commit to what we were learning about ourselves...and to take it home to keep working on it...
And we also made time to relax......and we talked...a LOT......and we listened to fabulous music and some even CREATED fabulous music...........
And we saw lots of different sides of each other...like the "mama bear" side! :)
It was just an experience that's so hard to explain...but that I wish EVERYONE that I love could be a part of...because it is truly transformative........ahhh...even more...it is RESTORATIVE....because who we are and what we are and our deepest joy just needs to be uncovered.....we need to be RESTORED to who we really are when life beats us up or jades us or gets us pointed in entirely the wrong direction.....Brave Girl Camp is a great place to get there........you just gotta come...whatever it takes...get here.......
really.
it really IS this phenomenal.
and these women...WOW....they are phenomenal beyond words.......
I love them all so much...I miss them..........wish we could do this every weekend!
Sooo....if you want to know more.......go to www.bravegirlsclub.com and read the testimonials...read all about it...sign up if there's still a spot...or make plans to go next year.....I would LOVE to spend the week with you....but even more than that...I would LOVE for you to have this incredible, life-changing, super-fun and fabulous experience......
xoxoxo
melody
