A Perfect Week

It was the most perfect week of the summer, at least that is how I remember it. The days were warm with sunny skies and cooperative seas. The Perseid meteor showers, stars and moon lit the nights.

 I was intrigued when I received an invitation to the adult session of Camp Suzuki at Chá7elkwnech. When I read that that there were Skwxwú7mesh facilitators willing to share some of their stories, traditional medicines and cultural practices in real time, I jumped at the gift and boarded the water taxi with intent. I had a plan.

Throughout the week I purposely and uncharacteristically showed up for sessions without a pen and paper and minus my camera/cell phone. I have no notes and very few photos of my time on the island. While it is true that the details may become fuzzy over time, I shall never forget the lessons.

 My days were busy from dawn to dark.

I attended a variety of excellent presentations where it was hard not to revert to the ways of a scholar and to trust that I would remember what I needed. At shuk’wum I learned to walk quietly and respectfully into the waters of the sound so that the seawater welcomed me in the early light of dawn. 

I listened closely to traditional songs and stories of creation and the view that humans, together with our animal siblings are intimate elements in the tightly integrated system of the natural world. I danced to the insistent rhythm of drums and other worldly voices and slipped into the effortless glide of the hunting eagle, the efficient ‘porpoise’ of the killer whale and the intensity of the watching wolf.

I solo kayaked the path of moonlight reflected in the sleeping waters of Atl’ka7tsem. I cut those daytime waters with my paddle in the kaxulh, the massive sea going canoe of the Coast Salish people. Alone in a forest one night, I danced across a leaf littered stage in the spotlight of the full moon for my sisters the trees, the mice, the deer and the owl.

I settled with familiarity into the rhythms of this place and its inhabitants the way I surrender into child pose. It felt like I was coming home. My time at camp was a profound, life altering experience and I will forever be grateful for the generosity, good humor and fellowship of the Skwxwú7mesh facilitators, the Camp Suzuki staff, our counselor Kaz, the industry presenters, and my fellow campers.

It is a mighty gift to facilitate a shift in the world view of a human being.