This is the last time we will wake up, have breakfast and pack up our campsite together. To celebrate the end of our adventure, our favourite guides are making waffles over the fire, with a toppings bar and fresh fruit.
Everything is packed, and we carry our luggage to the coach bus that will take us to Montreal. Even Loïs’s famous chair is still following us. He has been carrying it around for several days, and it even came with us on almost every portage.
It is time to say goodbye to Jessica, Hippolyte, Nicolas and Anne Sophie. I have probably said it before, but I need to say it again. We were truly accompanied by incredible guides and facilitators. They were not only skilled, but also deeply dedicated, passionate and caring.
Steve shakes Hippolyte’s hand and says, “Until next time.” Without hesitation, Hippolyte replies, “REALLY!”
That is not something people usually say, but it is exactly how we feel this morning. Like a group that has to say goodbye but would rather say, “Until next time… really!”
Yesterday, before leaving Jim Lake, we paused on the water to share what we were looking forward to when we returned home and what we were going to miss.
We will miss living as a community, being outdoors, spending time with other people without phones, looking each other in the eyes when we talk, laughing, singing in the canoe, the feeling of freedom we experience on the river, the sound of the ukulele in the morning, the campfire, the stars and everything this expedition has been.
I am writing to you from the bus as we make our way back to the hotel where our journey began. Soon, the youth will be reunited with their phones, which they have not had since Day 1, their families and their respective realities. In the meantime, we are having a photo booth!
Endings like this are never easy, but I know that everyone is leaving with new friends, memories, lessons and accomplishments. And if they ever forget, they can look at their wrist (IYKYK) and remember everything we experienced and accomplished together.
Before closing this chapter, I want to take a moment to thank everyone working behind the scenes to make these expeditions possible. I thank our partners and everyone who donates so that youth can experience these adventures and everything they bring into their lives. Thank you to Sophie, Annik and Steve, who were exceptional volunteers, and to Ève Marie and Catherine for their outstanding facilitation. Finally, thank you to Marie Michelle and Sarah, who held down the fort at the office, and to Charles-Antoine, our guardian angel. This expedition would not have been possible without you!
And to everyone reading these words, thank you for experiencing the Coulonge with us.
We will surely meet again soon. Until then, I will simply say, “Until next time… REALLY!”
Geneviève
