During our stay at Jones Pond Campground in western New York, the Fabulous Fifth Wheel sat at the edge of a meadow where we could look out at a garden a short walk away. It was the most beautiful spot in the campground.
A long path lined with cheerful Black-eyed Susans leads to a gazebo. Inside resting on a wicker table there’s a binder. Inside the binder is page after page, filled with poems, pictures and remembrances dedicated to a loved one who has passed.
This is the campground’s memorial garden.
And particularly today, as we celebrate our 22nd anniversary together, it is a vivid reminder of how fortunate Dave and I are. We have a life filled with family and friends who love and support us just as we are. Not everyone is so lucky.
Each of the campgrounds we’ve visited so far is very much a community. Each has a large contingent of seasonal campers who spend every weekend at the campground, sometimes the entire summer, and camping neighbors become fast friends.
The difference for some gay campers, is that in many cases those friends also become a “chosen” family to replace one that has turned away from them.
For us this campground was a beautiful, welcoming stop along our journey. For others it’s a beautiful, welcoming refuge from a world that isn’t always.