Wisconsin to Montana - Making A Dream

Excuse me for deviating from my blog title... but today I'm going to share a bit about my journey last week to Gold Creek, Montana, at Camp Mak-A-Dream.  I was blessed to be able to attend a unique retreat for ovarian cancer survivors, pleasantly finding myself surrounded by sixty-one women all in the same boat as me, from all across the country.  It is hard to explain the comradery I felt, the friendships I've made, and the beautiful Montana scenery that I relished in.

Camp was a time for healing, for learning new ways to cope, and for celebrating life.  I am grateful for the experience and will never forget the kindness that everyone who attended and the staff at camp showed me.  I found myself quite busy with all the activities camp staff had planned but want to share a bit of journaling and will revert to my notes from September 12th, 2016.

... This is my last day at camp.   I awoke at 6:00 a.m. MT time, rearranged my stuff, and started repacking for the long journey back home to Wisconsin later this morning.  No time to waste sleeping, the sun will soon be rising.

I chose to climb the side of a mountain west of camp by myself before breakfast and trudged slowly up a small part of the "butte" until I came to a corner in the fence line of this 87 acre ranch, and sat down on the dried up golden prairie grass with my journal and pen in hand.  This pen was given to me by a good friend whom I met at a place where I used to work named Artie Hamm, a trucker who always wore bib overalls.  He passed away from cancer of the spine.  I thought Artie would get a kick out of me bringing this pen with his name on it, a sort of Christmas handout, to Montana with me.  

As I looked around at this spot I chose to write from, I found a small bone or shed from an unknown animal, laying on the ground beside me.  It was only about 2" long, but I marveled at it along with clusters of dried up elk droppings on the ground, much larger than whitetail deer scat I am used to seeing back home.  As I look up at the mountains I can see trails where the elk cross to the south of me.

Mountains surround me on all sides.  Black cattle, along with a few brown ones, free range below me in the valley and I can hear an occasional cow bawling in the distance.   

The flag flies at half staff below me at Camp, in remembrance of 9-11 yesterday.  

My journey to this OVC fall retreat has been all and more that I hoped it would be.  It has given me the feeling of being "unalone".  We all have our own cancer journeys that we've been following, but each one of us shares so many similar experiences and feelings; sadness, frustrations, hopes, and dreams.

Pink skies begin to appear amidst gray clouds as the sun slowly rises this morning.  The beauty of Gold Creek is hard to pen.  To complete the scenery, down in the valley below me a train rolls down the tracks and blows it's whistle as it passes by the 150 year old Gold Creek Post Office, open from 2 - 4:00 p.m. on weekdays.  

As I watch the sun pop through the clouds I hear laughter from new friends, climbing the Butte behind me.  With the help of two Wisconsinites, I made it to the top of the Butte Friday morning in the fog.  Including myself, there are twelve women here at Camp from Wisconsin, none I had met before.  

Time to explore and appreciate one last time the rocks, the clouds, the mountains, new friendships, and the beauty of Montana.  I am grateful today for all that has been given to me in this life on earth.  Right now I think it's more than enough to get me through the rest of my cancer journey.