Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s Off to Camp She Goes

Yesterday afternoon I saw Ricki off to camp. She could have been singing (to the tune of Snow White) “Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it’s off to camp I go…”, she was so excited. The entire summer she has been looking forward to this camp, which entails 9 whole days away from home. It’s her first time at an overnight camp. She has been away from the house overnight on occasion, although it was always by a married sibling. We purposely sent her, so that she would/could tolerate overnights out of the house if the need would ever arise. It is also the longest I will be separated from her since she was born. The longest I have ever been away from her was for 4 days of my vacations.
Despite Ricki’s exuberance at going, I had qualms if she would actually hold up when actually at camp. So far she is doing OK. Of course, she had access to her volunteer’s cell phone for a quick “Good Night”, but apparently she did OK last night. (Gee, WE had to "rough it out" in camp without an umbilical cord of a cellphone......)
And here it is quiet, calm…. We’ll see who gets “ homesick” for the other first, she or I.

PS. On the topic of Snow White: Greg Palmer, in his book Adventures in the Mainstream makes a very interesting evaluation of Snow White and the seven dwarves. (I know that sounds weird, but see below, and you’ll se that it is not so strange.) His book is published by Woodbine House, but is already out of print, unfortunately. This book is very worth getting on an inter-library loan, even if you don’t have a child with special needs. It is a very fascinating look at two years in the life of his son, who has Down syndrome. I promise you, it’s interesting.
On Mr. Palmer’s web site ( http://www.gregpalmer.com/ ) I found that he has noted this about the alternate version (of Snow White) that he has authored:

“SNOW WHITE was written in response to extreme dissatisfaction with the Disney version, which reinforces the idea with young people that what you look like is very important - it is, after all, why the Dwarfs save Snow White, why they don’t bury her, why she eventually defeats the Queen; because she is indeed the fairest in the land. And then, after the Dwarfs have taken such care of her, she rides off with the first handsome prince who comes along, even though she has never exchanged a single spoken word with him. There is also the Dopey problem; the Disney character being an obvious developmentally disabled adult who is continually abused physically and verbally by his "loving" brothers. My Snow White makes an intelligent decision about who she loves, and why (it’s the Grumpy equivalent) and the youngest Dwarf is named Peg. She is a developmentally disabled adult as well, but is treated by her siblings with love and respect.”