Humbled

For the past four years, I've worked with a girl named Tracy. She is truly the most generous, helpful, kind-hearted person in the history of all time (yes, of all time, and yes, I have taken Mother Teresa into account), along with her husband Bob and their dog S'more. If someone is in need of a hug, a cry, a laugh, a lift, or a mover...Tracy is there offering to help. With a smile. Always.

Tracy and Bob have kept a trailer at the Village Green Family Campground in Brimfield, Mass for a few seasons now. Their "camp time" is their real time...their escape from the stresses of work and the responsibilities at home. They have a circle of friends at the campground that have become family, and their weekends from the spring and going deep into the fall have been spent laughing and eating with friends, usually to the tune of a few Coronas.

Last summer Tracy invited me to come and hang out at the campground. My answer was an immediate YES! My childhood weekends were spent in campgrounds and I always loved the camaraderie and often long-lasting friendships that were forged immediately and without reservation. I would go to my aunt and uncle's camper all the time, and my dad's band would play around at all different campgrounds. (Didn't you hear? Campgrounds are the hot new arenas for band tours...) At each campground, there would be kids to play with; both new friends and friends I'd made from the summers before. After a quick 'what was your name again?', we were off and running to the playground until we were called in to eat something and get some bug spray poured all over our dirty bodies.

My visit to Village Green Campground was everything I had hoped for. Good people, good food, and of course, many laughs (and beers).  Here are a couple of pictures of Tracy and Bob's homestead taken last year:

Sadly, on Wednesday June 1, 2011, a tornado ripped through the part of the state that is the home of Village Green. It left behind a path of destruction that had never been seen by most people. I received a text from Tracy at about 9pm that night saying that the campground had been hit. Over the days following, we found out that not only had the campground been leveled, but one of the four people who so sadly lost their lives had been there. The only saving grace was that the tornado hit on a Wednesday when the campground did not have as many people there. If it had happened just a few days earlier during the busy Memorial Day weekend, I can't even imagine the amount of injury and deaths that would have taken place.

I saw some pictures on the news of the broken off trees, the piles of rubble, and the blank, desolate stares of those left with nothing. However, the pictures truly do nothing in the face of the actual devastation that was left behind. On Saturday I, along with my mom and my cousin Justin, went to the campground to volunteer our time. The sights we saw took our breath away, and more than once I heard a low, drawn out 'wow' coming from my fellow helpers as they stood and turned in a circle, viewing the enormity of the situation. I took a bunch of pictures, but like I said, you almost need to see it to believe it.
 

Temporary Tent City

The oh-so-handsome S'more, overseeing the work from his director's chair

The cloud formation I inadvertently caught in the background of this picture was rather creepy to see later on.

This was our work site for the day (separating wood to be chipped from the rest of the debris), with Tracy and Bob's camper behind the red claw. Note: their camper used to be perpendicular to the way it is facing now, and was over in the space to the left.

Camper + Trees

I'm too sexy for this trash...too sexy for this rubble...so sexy it hurts. Normally I would never post such an unflattering picture of myself (don't judge, it's my blog after all), but I felt it was more important for you to see what we were (literally) up against.

Tracy and Bob's trailer, and the tree it ended up in.

Pop quiz: can you find the row boat in this picture?

My Tracy...notice the ever-present smile.  :)

This is the truck they were using to haul the chipped wood. The only way it could have been cooler is if it was blasting Dueling Banjos from overhead speakers.

Here is the free lunch we were promised. Kidding...this fork was absolutely impaled in that stick. Just about impossible to remove.

Our job was simple...sift through the piles and make new piles. Either chippable, or trash. I even got to wear some super-sexy gloves and a bright neon vest! After working for a few hours, we had made tons of progress, but you could literally only tell by looking in the area immediately around you. Any time I paused to look up and around, I would almost lose my breath to realize the enormity of the situation and the insignificance of what I had done so far. Soon enough, we were called to lunch. After getting over the disappointment of seeing about 30 McDonald's bags that were actually filled with NOT McDonald's (mean, mean, mean), we sat down to an awesome picnic lunch of donated sandwiches, snacks and juice boxes. The covered picnic tables took on the atmosphere of a junior high school lunch room, with people trading apples for Oreos, or crackers for potato chips. Jokes were thrown around, laughter and smiles were abundant, and it was easy to forget where we were. Some of these people had just lost everything, yet they continued to see the positive and to rely on their friends and family to work with them to get it back. They were not wallowing in self-pity, and they weren't complaining about their lack of a relaxing 4th of July weekend. They were simply picking themselves up, dusting themselves off, and moving towards a better tomorrow.

I know this has been a very long post, and I thank you for taking the time to read it. I just wanted to make sure I did the situation some justice. If you would like to help out these folks yourself, donations can be made to Village Green Family Campground, with "Relief Fund" in the memo line of the check. A link to donate can be found here.

I'm going to leave you with a final picture...it both broke and soothed my heart. This plaque was found amidst the rubble.

"Our family Chain is broken, and nothing seems the same; but as God calls us one by one the Chain will link again."