Day 10

The word of the day is energy. We hosted about 30 Sonadores at our home for these trips, a kind of community center called La Casa de Paz (the Peace House), for our annual sleepover party. Energy is what these 8 and 9 year olds got, with tons to spare, and energy is what it takes to party with them for 5 hours plus. We played dodge ball, rehearsed a play they've been working on, roasted smores (despite a downpour, in the kitchen), and at 6 the next the morning, broke a pinata. Whew, I'm exhausted, yet still buzzing.

Our energy is a sacred gift from the cosmos, as is our unique ability as human beings to choose how to spend it. Energy is life itself. And maybe part of the wonder of falling in love is that as you pour in your energy, the atoms split, the flames ignite, the lightning strikes--and you feel alive with more energy than you had before you loved. Many of us have felt that magical source. We feel it with these little dynamos we call the Sonadores.

If you're looking for a way to engaged your precious energetic love, I invite you to join us on a future trip. If you aren't already, consider looking at this whole album for a better sense of what we do. For our five remaining days, I'll also include this donation link. Or you might make the simple yet potentially powerful choice of sharing this post.

One of the most colorful parts of the sleepover was this handprint activity, which we also did last year. To me, the annual handprinting speaks to the program's desire to treat each child as an individual, to help each unique talent flourish, and to pay attention to the process of growing up, with all joys and pains that come along with that. It was fun to press into the fabric the fingerprints of this moment we will never have again.

Some of the amazing people on the Chacraseca 2012 trip who helped make the sleepover possible, and two of the amazing Sonadores who finally, finally, finally dozed off into Sonador Land.