It’s Beautiful, It’s Rare and It Goes by Quickly

In nature and adventure intervention, two key moments punctuate the end of an expedition: one of reflection and one of celebration.

Reflection

Broad bean soup as first course, tourtière du Lac with ketchup please and a “small” piece of blueberry pie: it’s with a belly full of tasty regional specialties that we meet on Friday evening around the master fire for one last big chat.

Participants are invited to revisit their goals for the week; they talk about pushing one’s limits, on harmony, on the challenges that come with so much proximity in family, and that of leaping into the unknown (without showers or toilets…) with a group of almost strangers; we talk about discomfort, confidence, surprises and successes.

The participants’ mission was to find names for each of the families on the totem pole, I let you guess who is who, we named: “The Happy Family” (inspired by a song lyric from Barney!);”Volunteer Meerkats”; “Passionate Suns” and “Ingenious Lions”. There was some imagination in there, makes one wonder what really was in the tourtière!

The facilitators also invite participants to depict a picture of their feelings about their expedition experience. One image that comes up is that of the loop. A loop that binds the family, but also a loop that joins both ends and closes the illness chapter: the expedition as the last milestone, we have reached the end. We feel that the families want to leave all that behind them, turn the page, move forward and cherish their health. We also talk about consolidation, roller coasters, transition, letting go and resilience. Obviously, we talk about love, lots and lots of love.

Once again, the little wolf, Ro, impresses us all with her review of the week: simple, concise and so rich at the same time.

“For me, the expedition is a bit like a shooting star: it’s beautiful, it’s rare and it goes quickly!”

Well, there it is, everything is said! Thanks Ro!

Celebration

After some post-reflection bubble hugs, reflection makes way to celebration. We sing Celine, Desjardins, the Boulay sisters, the Colocs songs and so on. The guides strum a guitar and ukulele while being back vocals to the choir of wolves. Ah yes, the wolf cubs have succeeded in their candy delivery mission, they fill their faces; it’s well deserved!

Fatigue leads the first sleepy heads into their cozy bed (we sleep in a chalet tonight, the big luxury), but for the party animals, the celebration will stretch until the wee hours. The atmosphere is energized, filled with laughter and weariness.

The night will be a well-deserved break before resuming the festivities on Saturday morning. Between two Benedictine Eggs, participants receive diplomas and a souvenir t-shirt that the young participants eagerly autograph. The moment is greatly appreciated since, let us recall that with the pandemic, some participants did not have a graduation ceremony.

Congratulations to the graduates!

La Familia Aventura : observation

The family, families, a main theme of this expedition. I come back to it again and share this observation with you: what an amazing range of families we have here, diversified and united. A nuclear family, the more traditional dad-mom-children type, with two awesomely growing spirited wolves in the making. A deconstructed family, but united with a father and a mother who became friends again after love and lovely beautiful grown-up girl now a woman. A mother leader of a small electric duo with her hefty Viking-wolf guy slipping into his twenties. A reconstituted family with a mother and a stepfather involved and in love, true bon vivant, and an already grown wolf that we learn to discover, a pearl in a shell.

In addition to these blood families, there are also the chosen families, like that of the three scoundrels of OrganisAction who all love each other and who, under the benevolent guidance of “Mama Bear”, work as a team harmoniously and intensely so that everything runs smoothly and our bellies are always full. And, finally, the Foundation’s employees and volunteers who stood together throughout the expedition to offer the best of themselves to the participants, a true temporary family with professional members who can be counted on. I am also thinking of the fact that all these little clans fit into a big family, the one of which you also belong, dear readers, the big On the Tip of the Toes family.

It seems like a lot of love emerges from this observation; it still radiates even back home and I think it will for a long time. I look at my expedition bracelet, this piece of string which, by tradition, unites us all together and I feel really lucky to be so surrounded. Thank you all for being here.

(singing)

Who can sail without wind, 

Who can row without an oar, 

And who can leave his friend 

Without shedding a tear…

 I can sail without wind, 

I can row without an oar, 

But I don’t can leave a friend.

Without shedding a tear.

—

As Marie-Michèle’s mentor, “Mario Bil”, (and a lot of everyone in the field) would say at the end of the experience, we don’t lose the people we leave, we leave with the gift of all those new acquaintances in our back pocket.

So it’s just goodbye…

Marie-Hélène or “Witty Weasel”, my totem name!

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P.S.: As a souvenir and because you are undoubtedly curious: drum roll for the totem names of the “staff”:—

—          The Foundation facilitators: Brown-Catfish and Brain-Deer

—          The medical team: Serene-Mouse and Generous-Monkey

–          The OrganizAction guides : Entertainer-Squirrel, Paced-Panda and Luminous-Wolf!

Ok! Ciao!