Lucas Camilo

First off, thanks to everyone who sent cards, albums, playlists, and wonderful memories to Lucas (and us) on his birthday. It was an exhausting day but he had lots of fun at his party and enjoyed reading and listening to all the things sent his way by friends.

But there is, perhaps, even bigger news: Lucas went to overnight camp last week! He spent four nights away from us in the woods near Mt. Rainier. I’ll let him take it from here…

My first overnight camp

This week I went to Stanley Stam camp.

Everyone there had a disability.

I went fishing and caught 2 fish. I caught a rainbow trout on Monday and a brook trout on Wednesday.

I rode a horse named Dream on the last full day.

It was a tall horse, so it was scary to be up so high, but it was still fun.

I couldn’t have my vent on the horse so Teresa the person who works with the horses bagged me while I rode.

I had a roommate named Christopher.
He also uses a wheelchair.

I had a friend named Nicole. We read Ferdinand the bull.

I had a nemesis named Anthony.

Olympics was one of the things I did and at bowling he was knocking down the pins.

Sounds cool, right? Except the riding the horse part!?! Yeah, we were a little surprised to hear about that… but with a good plan and lots of support they pulled it off. Here’s a video of that feat, followed by a video about the camp and its founder, Dr. Stanley Stamm.

This summer has been so full for us – often fun-filled, at times hard with surgeries, and also nostalgic as we approach the 10^th anniversary of Lucas’s arrival. On July 28^th we were telling Lucas and Ida about the day we flew across the country with Krista in very early preterm labor. And then three weeks later – miraculously back in Washington DC – Lucas came rushing into this beautiful and complicated world. He took us to meet our first incredible nurses that very night, and ever since he’s been leading us through the worlds of medicine and care workers and on toward penguins and disability community, dinosaurs and fart jokes, classic rock and so, so much love.

We are so grateful to the incredible friends and family who have supported us along the way, through this blog and the many other ways you’ve surrounded Lucas and our family with love. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

So to mark Lucas’s 10^th birthday (August 17) we wanted to offer some ways you can help us celebrate.

For Lucas, the child of short wish lists, you could send him an email, e-card, video or old-fashioned card in the mail wishing him a happy birthday. Or, if you like music, you could send him a mixtape or playlist with your favorite music. He loves a good Spotify playlist, but we can also rock old-fashioned CDs, music on thumb drives, etc. His favorite music is classic rock and metal, but he’s open to most anything.

And for us… for those of you who have been around since the beginning, we would love a memory you have from that time when Lucas was a baby. Maybe you have a short (or long!) story of a memory you have of our family in those first days or months or years. The beginning was so life changing, and so blurry with fear and post-partum hormones and then the bewilderment of learning homecare machinery and systems.   There were sweet, wonderful moments, incredibly hard ones, and even some ridiculous times. Memory is so funny and uneven – I (Krista) remember specifically Mary and the other dear folks from All Souls who helped us move AND THEN CLEAN our old apartment on August 16 while I was on bed rest. I remember Alan’s recipe for vegan banana coconut ice cream (Amaretto was the one other ingredient) which he made for us as part of our meal train. I remember the traffic on the way out of the hospital the day we came home with Lucas. And I remember the first friends who offered us introductions and said “you might need community of folks with disabilities.” I wonder about all the other random and specific memories I lost along the way. And of course there are other memories that are forever etched in our souls. And we’d love to hear your take on those moments, too.

No pressure – a card/e-card for Lucas is plenty!  But if you have a few minutes, we’d love to hear from you what you remember of our beginnings as a family.   Feel free to direct the story to us, or if you’d like, you can write it as a story for Lucas and Ida.

You can send things via email or snail mail, or if you want it to be part of this blog, you can use the comments box here.  To use the snail mail, our address is 3145 35^th Ave S, Seattle WA 98144.  Thank you for the Lucas love!!