Ah, it’s summer! I love it. The longer days allow for early morning runs, evening swims and extended cookouts with friends. For many, it's time to recuperate from the battles fought while helping with homework and the numerous hours spent watching unlimited baseball and soccer games. Of course the extra free time means the kids have even more energy. So, this year I decided to research some local day camps in our area.

OMG! (Don’t worry. “G” stands for Gosh.) There were so many camps to choose from, I was overwhelmed. They all sounded incredible. I was tempted to sign up for all of them and fill our summer going from camp to camp. But the reality of a budget knocked that out of me.

I finally decided on a camp that one of our friends cofounded and co-runs, SimBale Sports, LLC. It’s a sports camp that not only challenges the body but also the mind. It sounded great, so we signed up.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my experience volunteering at Royal Family Kids’ Camp.  You can read about the importance of the program here.  I recently returned from another week at camp and as expected, returned physically exhausted, emotionally drained, and hesitant to re-enter my “normal” life knowing these kids returned to a life of loneliness, heartache, and continual disappointment.  Soon, I will re-learn how to hold conversations with people older than 8 years old.  I will stop expecting a hearty, kid-friendly meal at exactly 8 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 5:30 p.m..  I’ll be able to sleep through the night without having to escort a child with a small bladder to the bathroom at 4:00 am.  And I’ll stop “seeing” the children from camp at the grocery store, or McDonald’s, or Disneyland, my heart skipping a beat each time.