Camp Widow - Day 1 🕤 ☕ 🍽️ 🍪 🤝 🗨️ 🧑‍🎤 🎤

May 26, 2024

Friday, May 24:

First day of Camp Widow:

I got down to the registration area and picked up my packet, nametag, and tote bag, and then enjoyed the welcome coffee and tea. In the Opening Address, Rebecca, the director of First Light Australia (the non-profit that organizes Camp Widow) explained how their organization came to be. She had attended the Camp Widow in San Diego several times and wanted to bring it to Australia, which required starting a non-profit organization. I believe she said there were 250 participants at this conference - it was a lot of people, both women and men.

Tribute tiles

Morning Tea (pastries & a cuppa) was followed by Orientation Sessions, for which we were grouped according to the amount of time we had been widowed: first year, 1-3 years, 3-5 years, or five years or more.

Before lunch (while the buffet line was really long), I walked to a pharmacy to buy medication for my feet (which were driving me crazy because of the itching). After eating, we started the conference workshops we had registered for. My first one was “When the hits keep coming.” My second one (after Afternoon Tea - cookies & a cuppa) was “Health is Wealth.”

I sat next to a fellow widow with this tattoo (Joseph - her dad, Anna - her mom, and Adam - her late husband)

Our last activity for Friday was called “We Have A Widow For That”. We sat in groups at different tables with people who had something in common with us: Widowed under 30, Widowed over 60, Widowed by Cancer, Widowed by Glioblastoma, Widowed with Young Children, etc. Every 15 minutes we could move to a new table or stay where we were. Then we grouped by state/region to connect with people who live closer to us. We combined the US and Tasmania because there were only 3 of us in that group. The other person from the US (Utah) was a presenter, and co-host of a podcast called “Widow We Do Now?”

On Friday night they had complimentary hors d'oeuvres (which were so plentiful no dinner was needed) in the lounge with live music.

Since the evening events ended fairly early, Robyn, a Japanese widow named Kai, and I had reserved a room at Music City downtown to do Karaoke for an hour. It was fun!