Ten for Two: The Beginning

So after my late night blog about the "young lad" who was losing sleep over one measly, little point, I'm yearning for a trip back to the 18461. I vividly remember my first trip up the one-mile driveway. It was about 6:30pm at night. It took only about 12 hours to drive 800 miles and another 1 hour to drive just 20 miles...I got lost...at least twice. But I remember pulling into the camp and being totally mesmerized...or cold...it was 85 degrees F in Nashville the day before I left. It was probably about 45 degrees F when I arrived at camp. I remember running to the trunk of my car to shuffle through one of my eight bags to find a sweatshirt. And then I met her. The woman who convinced me to come to Camp Starlight: Alyson Lee!

The first thing she did was give me a hug. I was slightly weirded out because I barely knew HER but I KNEW right away that I had arrived. I had found a special place. On top of the world. She asked how I was, how the trip went then immediately starting introducing me to the counselors who would become some of my best friends. Unfortunately, those people had just spent three weeks weed-whacking, laying sewer line, chipping paint only to go back and repaint. I don't exactly remember who I met that night. I was so tired all I asked was to go to bed. I was showed to my room...though not how to work the thermostat so I slept in all my blankets and my sleeping bag. It got colder than 45 that night.

I woke up the next day to find I had arrived 2 days earlier than I was suppose to be a camp for waterfront training. I woke up the next day to find out I had arrived on New Camper Day. I woke up the next day to find out I had absolutely no idea what was happening. So I was given a tour guide. Enter Mr. Collin Gumprecht. Ten feet tall All-American guy with a weird faux-hawk thing that I found out later never moved...even after sleeping...in water....nothing. I was told that I was suppose to follow this guy all day. It was the beginning of Collin's second summer and he was going to be a unit leader for lower camp. Having absolutely no idea what a unit leader was, I followed Collin around as we did odd jobs before the cars pulled up camp road with new campers and their families.

It was kind of fitting to be at camp on that day. That New Camper Day. These kids, like myself, were beginning a long, what would be seven week, journey for them away from the family and most of their friends. They would have very limited access to the outside world. They would be in a place which they would be unfamiliar. But I knew exactly how they felt. At twenty years old, only when I went to Kentucky Christian College for church camp had I ever been away from my family for a week. Even then, I was surrounded by my church friends and my church leaders. I had no idea what to expect for the eight weeks that I was going to be at camp.

But then there was Collin. Collin showed me the ropes that day. He let me follow him around, ask questions that must have seemed like common sense, and introduced me to the counselors who had already been there for three weeks. If I needed anything I went to him. He was my guide for the next two days. He became my first camp friend. From the outsiders point of view, it would seem he hadn't done anything special. But to me, just having someone to take the personal time to guide me through everything and actually talk to me was special.

I'll always remember that first interaction at camp. Looking back on it, I know it is one of the unlimited reasons I return to camp each year. Collin didn't return my second year and I realized I would have to be that guide for someone else. It was a responsibility I took and cherished. Collin did return though for our third year. And became one of the Three Amigos, but that's another installment of Ten for Two.

The 1 point heard round the world!

So unless you have made the holy pilgrimage to 151 Starlight Lake Rd., Starlight, PA, 18461, you will not truly appreciate this blog. And even if you have made the journey you may not totally appreciate everything....So here's the story about how 1 little tiny point has kept many glorious hours of sleep away from me.

Picture it: August 2007. A young Puerto Rican boy (nicely tanned with sparkling blue eyes) is given the opportunity of which thousands of young children had dreamed. He was to lead Sing! While this young lad was no to be the Sing Leader, in a magical twist of fortune and some pulling of the strings of Fate he was able to Lead some 250 campers as well as an additional 100 counselors into battle. The scenes were set and the Mighty Super Blues were to do battle against the evil Game of White. Though the young man fought with all his superhuman strength he fell short against the loaded dice of the Game of White...3 points short in fact. This 3 point difference was called the "closest in Camp Starlight history!" The boy left the battlefield and found a nice tree to sit under. I believe it was a maple. The boy cried and vowed that next year it would be HIS songs that would be performed and HIS victory!!!! But the boy had a fear...the greatest fear possible. His fear is that he would lose...and lose by 1 single minuscule teeny tiny little point!!

Fast forward one year: June 2008. The boy arrives at his beloved haven of sanctity and piousness to begin his campaign to become "THE GREATEST SING LEADER (candidate) EVER!!!" While making daily announces to the glorious "powers that be" about how much he would love it if they would shine their sanctimonious gifts upon him and allow him the privilege of leading his very own Sing Team. Well June turned to July and July to August and then it happened. "Walk to the back of the dining hall but make it look like you're going to the Med Center." He knew this was it. He was going to be invited to a secret club that only four members were inducted every year. The most holy of holy organizations was about to accept him into their legions and he was to become a SING LEADER!!!

This young lad had shared his greatest fear with all of his closest friends including his partner in crime: is SING LEADER partner!!! Everything that was written, whether it be minuscule or masterpiece was given the "1 pt." branding. Everything! The scraps of paper the young lad would doodle on at 3am while trying to come up with words that rhymed with "triumph" or "glory." Even his partner would give the tattoo to her own doodle pads. But word of this fear got to the gods...

And then the fateful day came...after 2 days of delays! The day the young, youthful, valiant, handsome boy had been waiting for since he first heard of this sacred event. SING 2008!!!! The stages were set and Olympic White set up to conquer the New York Blue Team!!! The young stallion stood before his followers and led them to what was truly the most exceptional SING performance known to man...or so he thought. The gods had heard his fear and they were not going to let him escape without realizing it.

The scores came out. Olympic Whites won set!!!! N.Y.B.T win costumes, entrance, theme? MARCH???? There was no hope! Even if the Olympic Whites earned a perfect score on the greatest Alma Mater Camp Starlight had ever heard they would lose....by 1 point. The Olympic Whites earned a 99 on the Alma Mater. This 1 point angered the young lad. He knew that the Alma Mater deserved a perfect 100 because there wasn't a dry eye in the house. But he knew it didn't matter. The young, stunning boy looked up at his little brother and let out a smile..."I lost by 2 points." Then the final score....something had happened...a penalty against the N.Y.B.T.? but the final score resulted in the Olympic Whites losing by.....1 point!

The boy went from a sarcastically amused stature....to completely disheveled. He ran out of the theatre and into the arms of his big brother. For only the 3rd time in his young life the boy cried. The 2nd time being the year before. The "Closest Sing in Camp Starlight History" stood for one sing year until the new "Closest Sing in Camp Starlight History!" closed to the gap to one single point. That one point haunts the boy every night. Every night he asks what could he have done better. Should he have listened to the "King of the Gods" advice and made the choices he made. Or should he have just done it the way he wanted to do it and let it all work out the way it would have. Either way...1 point should not equal an untold amount of lost sleep :-/

So my first entry???

Well here it is...finally I've decided to actually do a consistent blog. It's weird. Writing down my "thoughts" and "feelings" for the world (or the 2 friends I've convinced) to read. I only my hope my life is exciting enough to keep the interest of those who I already tell everything about my life. You know. There are only so many times I can tell a story to someone before I get annoyed that they aren't listening. No new thoughts or feelings will be disclosed on this initial blog. Well...here goes nothing (except my life)!