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Supporting, Encouraging, and Challenging the WWME Community

  Family - Fun

Building Summertime Relationships

Jack & Karen Baker

Building Memories – Building Relationships

We have heard from many WWME Community groups throughout the country that they take the summer “off” from their monthly or bi-monthly meetings. But for others the summer months are prime to continue building relationships. Some groups continue to gather as families at Bar-B-Ques, picnics and camping trips or just to play at local parks and backyards. Our question is how can you “take off” from building relationships? For the Seattle Encounter, the Oso Campout is one way we build relationships in early summer.

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Sharing a Pot Luck meal together

As best as the participants at the most recent Seattle Campout can remember, families have been gathering in the same small campground, and building relationships for over 20 years. In rain or shine, new and returning WWME families from the Seattle Washington area make their way to the small town of Oso. Oso is nestled in the foothills of the Cascade mountain range. There, behind a residence and the Volunteer Fire Department Fire Hall is a haven. One in which to forget the busy-ness of our lives and to build new relationships and renew old ones. To some people’s dismay cell phones are non-functional at the Oso campsite,. To many others, having no cell phone service is a blessing. It is only the occasional blaring of the fire department siren that interrupts the sound of the rustling trees and the song of the nearby river as it rolls across the rocks. Although, startling at first, the siren has become commonplace and I think we all say a little prayer for the people and the country side in need of help.

To the “regulars”, it is a known fact that the camp out is always on the third weekend in June. Relationships are formed - adult-to-adult, child-to-child and family to family (and let’s not forget the population of dogs!). Typically, Saturday evening is a potluck meal ranging from hot dogs and beans to a gourmet camp cook’s delicacy. Some families just come as a day outing and for dinner. It seems like a sort of Utopia as for two days and nights we live in community, sharing food, stories and supervising the children’s play. Each year there are high hopes that the weather will be warm enough to host the annual water balloon fight and a raft float on the river. And every year an unknown number of children (and adults) learn the old art of skipping stones across the river. As the night air begins to chill the bones, tired bodies hover around the campfire. But there is energy left for roasting marshmallows and eating “somores”. Occasionally, one can hear the shuffling of cards and the spontaneous laughter of “ribbing” that a friendly game rule was broken or one can hear the outburst of voices following a brilliant play.

This year, the families took time out on Saturday afternoon, in the multi-purpose, rustic shelter for a family Rosary and dialogue. The short presentation was about finding things in nature that are representative of our family. One presenter had a round, smooth rock representing how they were worn and tumbled along the many paths they have taken in their life. The other presenter displayed a dandelion…a persistent plant that comes back time after time, like their relationship in the ups and downs of living. Families were encouraged to take some time together to walk, to discover and share parts of nature that remind them of their families. After sharing their “finds” there was a family dialogue question: “What do I like most about my family?” HDIFAT?

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Bellefeuille Family Dialoguing

Whenever possible, our campout retreat includes Mass together. We are at the mercy of the availability of a priest either from the Encounter or from the rural churches in the area. What a gift to celebrate the Holy Eucharist with our WWME family.

As the sun rises on Sunday, the thoughts of going home begin to creep into our heads. But no one says a word about it. We know all would like to stay a bit longer in the utopia with new and old friends? (No wonder the hippie life of the 70’s was so appealing). Our haven in the country, with the Cascade mountain range standing majestically around us beckons us to stay but a little longer. As the remnants of the water balloon fight are being picked up, they trigger memories of dirty-faced little boys and girls that once played here and are now grown up. Some are coming back as parents bringing their own boys and girls. They continue to build relationships and memories for a lifetime. How sweet life can be - building relationships one couple, one family, one priest, and one religious at a time! The people at the Oso campout could have been any group of WWME families in the United States or in the world. Maybe, their experience sounds like yours. Their story, their experience could be that of any Encounter, but as we head back to our daily lives, our time at Oso becomes our story and our memories. On the third weekend in June next year, there will be new and old friendships converging on the tiny town of Oso. And when we leave we will have left heart prints in one another once again.

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