I had gone to camp as a kid. I
remember very little except that it was not a very good experience. I could
hardly wait for the week to be over and I could go home. I remember feeling
alone. I am not sure why as I was with some kids form my own church, but we
never were the best of friends. Most of the guys in my cabin were from another
church and they were close friends. I felt excluded.
It was fall when my Youth for
Christ club began promoting a fall retreat for all the schools. Previous
experiences told me I should stay home. I certainly had more friends that I had
at the last camp, but what if it sucked. (I don’t believe we were used that
word, but it fits.)
Gerry-Ann had brought Steven
around YFC. As I recall he was a foster kid and my heart was already reaching
out to those hurting and rejected. He was certainly included and we became
casual friends. He asked if I was going to go and I told him I doubted it (I
was developing the practice of indirect answers). He didn’t quite bed me to go,
but did at one point threaten to stay home if I didn’t go. How to you reject
that. I packed up my things to join the migration.
I have no idea where the camp was
or its name, but I knew it was fall and the weather was cool. The first evening
was fine. There was some music, some games, some snacks and lots of laughter.
I wish I could remember how we
were assigned cabins for the night, but Steven, another guy and myself were in
a cabin with no supervision. That was not the issue. There was no heat and it
was cold. All three of us were shivering and could not get warm. We put on
every piece of clothing we had. It didn’t help. I think it was Steven who
suggested we put a couple of mattresses on top trying to block out the wind.
That didn’t work. Eventually we put several mattresses on the floor and all
crowed together and piled more mattresses on top. That helped some.
No one really believed: 1) there
were only three in our cabin. 2) There was no heat. 3) We crowded together, and
4) we hated how comfortable everyone else seemed to be.
It was definitely better at
breakfast and for all the indoor activities in the heated room. I remember
hanging out by the heat source. The rest of the day went well. If I could
remember who talked me into this next stunt, I would send them my doctor’s
bills. There have been hundreds.
“Come on, it will be fun” Well, it
sounded fun. The plan was that four of us would lift the directors VW bug and
place it between two closely placed trees. We succeeded. He never saw us, but
dud fund out who did it.
Everything was fine. No problems at first, and then — that's the next blog, and after three years and I pulled a muscle working as a summer dairyman in distant
Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. I was trying to life and eight gallon can of ice
cream mix while bent over in an Econoline Van. It was more than a muscle and I
have seen a chiropractor off and on to this day. Just saw one on Monday.
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