Camp is here, and I am so thrilled!! I have been going to MDA summer camp since I was 15 in OK! It is undescribable the feelings that I had going there. I started out being a quiet and shy person, but it did not take me long to become an extravert. I was one of the majority being in a wheelchair and having a physical disability. My 1st friend with FA I met my 1st year at MDA summer camp! We had an instant bond! FA is the only form of ataxia that is covered under the umbrella of MD. Weird I know, but we FAer’s are commonly known to get heart problems. The heart is a muscle which makes it a form of Muscular Dystrophy.
At that time 21 was the final age in which someone with MD could attend MDA summer camp. I was extremely saddened by this and because I did not have any intentions of ever moving back to OK I figured I better go to camp in Texas. I knew that this would be my last opportunity to make some local friends, possibly some lifelong friends, and to get some support while living in Texas! So I asked my bestie at the time Sarah to come with, and she said yes! Sarah also has FA and lived not too far from me at that time. She is 5 years younger than me. Her mom was the leader of the FA support group in N. Texas. She had never been to camp at all, and heard me talk all about it. I was excited for her to have this opportunity
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So off on the bus Sarah and I went to Camp John Marc in Meridian Texas! I had heard that the accessibility was supposed to be amazing and it met all expectations and more! There were paved walkways everywhere, and our cabins & bathrooms were very roomy! They even had a petting zoo, horses, fishing area, dance hall, a climbing wall, a zip line, and an accessible treehouse!! I did every one of them, and I give myself a warm fuzzy for it! One thing missing for me, and that was my OK family from camp. Then I looked up to see my brother Brent who was a counselor at MDA summer camp in OK!! Texas camp needed another guy counselor so they asked someone in OK and Brent stepped up! He is the nicest guy (they all are from OK)! I did make a lifelong friend while there, her name is Michelle! We were in the same cabin, and are the same age. We have picked up our friendship through other friends, and through Camp Craig Allen! It is a small world out there!
This is a pic of all of us “grads” (peeps who were 21, and could no longer return). I have the actual color pic somewhere and when I find it I will replace it. 
My bestie Sarah and I! 
The ladies in our cabin! 
My brother from another mother Brent and I being so thrilled to be reunited!! 
My lifelong friend Michelle and I. We were both 21 and looked so young!! She had and still has the most beautiful hair!!
All and all I can say that I am glad that I went to camp in Texas! If I didn’t go I would have kicked myself later and that would be hard to do, LOL!
Remember when you used to have your film developed, and you got what you got? This was one of those times, lol! 
PETTING ZOO!! 
Not only did I get to pet the horse but I also got to brush him, hose him down, and ride him!! Such a sweet animal! 
Jenny and I trying for the catch of the day! 
YOU CAN DO IT SARAH!! Can I just say that the hardest part of the climbing wall and zip lining was the butt floss harness, lol! 
Zip lining was so much fun!!
Rolling on, Stephanie’s
Rolling on... 