GreenHouse Summer Highlights #2

GreenHouse Summer Highlight #2: A long car ride with Monica (and dipping our feet in the ocean!)

Each summer, we offer our 7th, 8th, and 9th graders an opportunity to go to a week of summer camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains. I personally loved camp as a child and teenager and know the immense impact it had on my relationship with God. So, it always gives me great pleasure to do whatever I can to get some of our GreenHouse youth to camp. This is typically quite a process that involves weeks and weeks of convincing kids that they will LOVE camp, calming the fears of parents whose kids have never been away from them for a night, helping parents fill out registration forms, home visits to calm fears, home visits to calm fears, and more home visits to calm fears, dealing with disppointment and frustration when kids drop out at the last minute because they are just too scared, and then finally, driving the few and the brave to camp.

This summer, I was all set to drive Lupita, Andrea, and Karla to camp, when it dawned on me...why not invite Lupita's mom, Monica, to come along with me for the drive? That way, she could see where her daughter would be for the week and have the opportunity to see her off. Plus, it would be great for me to have a buddy in the car on the loooong drive to Santa Cruz AND it would give us a chance to spend some quality time with one another. To my delight, she was free - and really excited about going with me. So, off we went! The trip went a little something like this: Driving - talking - stopping in traffic - more talking - more driving - more traffic - finally arriving at the camp - girls freaking out - wanting to leave - processing the fact that they are the only non-Caucasian kids at camp - Monica so proud, so thankful for the opportunity for her daughter - calming fears - saying goodbye to the girls - Monica and I spontaneously driving down to the ocean before heading back - walking on the beach - putting our feet in the water - more talking - so thankful for this moment - back up to the car - stopping for yummy Mexican food for dinner - more talking - more driving - more traffic - more talking - more driving - home at last - exhausted.

Little did I know when I invited Monica to come with me that those 10 hours spent with her would have a profound impact on me. I have spent quite a bit of time with Monica over the past eight years, watching her kids grow up at The GreenHouse and sharing our life experiences with one another. And overtime, we've kindled a wonderful friendship. But, there was something about the time we spent together in the car that took our relationship to the next level. We talked openly about family and immigration and culture and suffering and education and poverty and God. I was able to openly share with her the reason for my Hope.

I came home exhausted (and forever changed) from all I had heard and learned about her life. It was almost too much for me to take in. Her life story is so vastly different than mine. It is difficult to be her. She faces challenges on a daily basis that I will never have to face. Yet, she inspires me. Her courage, strength, and tenacity are fierce. It is a privilege to call her my friend.