Camp Mystic :: Tragedy That Hits Close to Home
The missing girls from Camp Mystic have been on the top of our minds over the last few days. It’s been gut wrenching to watch. As a camp mom, it hits completely different. The amount of prayers offered up are immeasurable.
This is the second year that I’ve sent a child off to camp, so I’m not entirely experienced with this situation. I’m the mom that sends daily emails, I check photos daily, and I have a countdown to the day of pick up. I have no doubt that they are safe, taken care of and well loved while away.
This year was the first year my youngest went to a sleep away camp. I was beyond excited that we were able to get her into the popular camp. We had prepared her that she may be alone, not knowing anyone that was going, but it was going to have the time of her life! She is my extrovert child who I knew would make the best of any situation. I wanted her to have the experience I never had the opportunity to have. I wanted her to find “her place” in a crowd of different girls. Needless to say, it was everything and more!
The tragedy in Texas happened the day before pick up. Although she was at a camp only 2 1/2 hours away from home, the tragedy struck a chord. I didn’t sleep the night before pick up. I checked social media constantly, looking for updates on the lost babies. I cried in bed reading anything about the floods and said more prayers than I could count. The day of pick up while on the way, I was on my phone constantly looking for any information I could find about the search. I needed them to give me some information for those parents! Signs of life or a way for them to say goodbye and have some kinds of closure.
You send your children off to camp with the idea that they will be kept safe while away from home. Not once, do you think the most horrific thing could happen and you may never see them again. The places you send them are safe, full of memories to be made, and new adventures to be had. These parents never thought that sending their children off to camp would be the last time they would hug them, give them kisses, or tell them they loved them.
As we watch the tragedy unfold, we offer up our prayers for all the parents anxiously awaiting to hear if their child has been recovered, alive or deceased. Either way, these families are going through something we could never imagine. The fear, hope, uncertainty and devastation these families are experiencing is something no parent is prepared or trained for. We continue to pray for those who have been found, those reunited with their families and those who are still unrecovered.
