Did you ever pack a bunch of silver, chrome, and neon articles of clothing into a suitcase, then get in the car and drive 12 hours through the middle of a rocky desert only to descend upon a hot tub full of 100 people you have never met but are instantly friends with? – And then become astronauts and space cadets with this new posse, learn how to open a bottle of Champagne with a SWORD, and throw some serious punches while drinking punch made from the Champagne you opened with a sword? . . .
You haven’t? . . . Oh. Well, then, may I suggest it? – Because that’s what I did last weekend, and it was awesome!
On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I found myself at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, California, drinking cocktails pool-side and swapping stories and ideas with Andrea, Anna, Alice, Alicia, Alison, Amy, E. Annie and Brendan, Eden, Elizabeth, Erica, Heather, Heather, Heather and Jon, Jen and Chris, Jill, Jill, Kate, Keryn, Laura, Laura, Leslie, Maggie, Margit, Matt and Melissa, Meaghan, Megan, Nicole, Rebecca and Robbie, Shauna, Susan, Susan, Wendy, and about a hundred other people there for Camp Mighty. (Note to campers: if you are not on this list, or I didn’t link to your online persona, I don’t hate you, I just GAVE UP).
Maggie and Laura planned the whole thing around Maggie’s idea of a Life List, 100 things you want to accomplish in whatever sphere of your life you want to accomplish things in. Everyone made lists, we were divided into four teams to make the whole “sharing your intimate hopes and dreams with a bunch of strangers” part easier to deal with, and we spent the weekend listening to really inspiring speakers, filling our bellies with good food, wine, and other beverages, sitting in a steaming hot tub while cold rain tickled out-of-water heads and shoulders, discussing our lists and networking with each other to cross items off of them, and learning a bunch of random skills like making balloon animals or meditating (except not).
Everything was pretty damn great, and the weekend was full of trippy coincidences that make you look at your life and the lives of those around you to say, “Hey, maybe we really are all part of an overarching harmony or threads of the same woo-woo tapestry all woven together and built upon one another . . . Let’s go have a drink and talk about the Age of Aquarius or something . . .”
Anyway, it was a magnificent weekend that took something as abstract as a massive list of ideas and dreams you’d like to make a physical reality in your life, and give you some tools, some examples, and a really extensive community of like-minded nutballs to help you make them happen. And then you get to relax, hang out, and dress-up like Martians, pregnant aliens, astronauts, astronauts’ wives, and other space-agers while you drink Tang laced with Vodka and sticky, orange sugar, and dance until your whole body hurts.
Right on.
Speaker Brian Piotrowicz, whom OPRAH does favors for (yes, that Oprah), discussing intent and why we need it when doing all those pesky things like living a fulfilled life and producing iconic television talk shows.
Evany Thomas, blogger, barbershop-quartet supporter, and Facebook development gal, who is not only cute and hilarious, but – let’s face it – has been through some pretty traumatic experiences (The Cuddle Party Puppy Pile) and has come out of them relatively unscathed, stronger, and full of uncomfortable oxytocin.
Kenna, after we collectively called his mom to sing her “happy birthday” and she lovingly reminded him to take his vitamins, go to church, and find someone to make her grandbabies with, talking to Maggie about climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for Summit on the Summit to raise money for water, which everyone on the planet needs to survive or something? – Go figure.
As the only minor at Camp Mighty, Buster Benson‘s son was still mature enough to play it cool while everyone else opened Champagne with sabers and drank grown-up juice in the parking lot. (By the way, Niko – remember to remind your dad that TECHNICALLY I gave him the $8.97 Walmart Lightsaber from my space outfit so that YOU could play with it, not him.)
Woman of the Ace Hotel, whose name I think was Sarah and rocked very hard at things like making Champagne punch and constructing six-foot metallic rockets, seen here making said punch.
Sharing hair/hat-wear tips.
Halley’s Comet, uhhh . . . me, and Dr. Spaceman drinking Tang-Tini’s and partying like it’s 3099.
Thank you, Jake’s, for giving Camp Mighty’s Team 3 the equivalent of 15 cakes to take back to the hotel and split among ourselves, averaging about 0.68 cakes per person in an ode to The Biggest Cuts of Cake I Have Ever Seen.
Other selections from the weekend, which was mighty, indeed.
(I don’t think Dude got the space theme . . .)
Be well. – SAWK
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