Loose Leaf Notes

I drove way out into what seemed like no man’s land, to Camp Powhatan in Hiwassee Virginia, on Saturday. I went there to do a story on Camp Treehouse, a day camp hosted by hospice for kids who have recently had a death in their family. I wasn’t there for five minutes when a woman who was volunteering as a camp mentor recognized me from my blog, approached me and asked if I was Colleen Redman. As we talked I learned that she lost her mother as a child. We were still talking when another mentor who recognized the first woman’s last name on her name tag joined our conversation. It turned out that she used to date an old friend of mine from the Floyd community. She lost her brother when she was young. Not long after that I was surprised to see Sharon, an old friend and one time member of the Floyd woman’s circle who is a hospice social worker now. She lost her partner to cancer. Then I met up with the hospice nurse (and member of my meditation group) who first suggested I do the story. She was the only person I expected to know at the camp. Another woman looked familiar. We discovered that she was in the Blacksburg book club that read the book I wrote about losing two of my brothers a month apart, “The Jim and Dan Stories.” We met when I was invited to talk to the group.

 
With so many good people in good service to others, it was easy to make new friends too. I left the camp after lunch so that I could go to the bonfire party in tribute to a dear friend, Wayne, who died last week.