Yesterday, the big manila envelope arrived in my mailbox. In it? The application for summer camp at Clara Barton. Already.

Olivia loves camp, so we'll definitely be sending her again but I was dismayed to see that the price has gone up. It's now $2,225 to go for two weeks. Last year it was around $1900. That's a big jump.

I understand why they charge so much - the staff is huge there. The buildings are in excellent condition (way better than any camp I ever attended, that's for sure!) and the grounds are very attractive. Because they have such a large medical staff, I feel really secure sending Olivia there year after year.

Plus, the camp is really great about granting camperships. They also send out information telling you how you can put together your own fund raisers and how to solicit organizations like The Lions Club or Kiawanis to help subsidize some of the cost.
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Olivia left for camp on Sunday. This was the first time in six years that I didn't bring her myself. I was at a blogger gathering in Niagara Falls, thoroughly enjoying myself, albeit a bit guiltily. I talked to her several times on the phone over the weekend and she seemed fine with me not going. "Well, I won't have to watch you cry this year," she said. Rotten child. (She's right. I do cry, every year. I'm a sap.)

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An old adage suggests there is strength in numbers.

Not the numbers of our ABCs -- although there is strength in that knowledge -- but the strength of many people, standing together, for the same cause.

Many people making the same choice made Jesse Ventura -- a third-party candidate -- governor of Minnesota, and Abraham Lincoln -- also a third-party candidate -- President of the United States.

Many people speaking out on television and in the media made everyone aware of AIDS and of Breast Cancer -- even though those two diseases kill and disable far fewer people than heart disease and diabetes.

Why is it, then, that hundreds (thousands?) of Twitter users turned their avatars red for World AIDS day, or green to support the protesters after the Iranian election, but not blue to support World Diabetes Day?

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