2005...A More Excellent Way

So I came back for another year. This year I made a stop in Indiana along with my normal Texas tour. Having recently graduated, and still being an intern at Lockheed Martin, I should have taken the entire summer to do EFY, one of my greatest regrets, but for once I had a job that paid better than workin' with the youth. If I remember correctly, this was the same year that Richie was hired to be a counselor before he left on his mission in August. I think we were even roommates in SA 2.

Indiana was fun. I met some great new counselors. In fact, my co-counselor Lori Depew, eventually ended up as my coordinating partner for one week in 2008. This was also the summer I picked up the infamous Matt Hyde, fresh off the mish, in Memphis and began that relationship. Big Al Doan also was introduced into my life, and it has been enriched greatly because of it. I remember walkie-talkies were a big thing for co-counselors in Texas, so I decided to take a couple up to Indiana for whoever would be my partner. However, I was in a triple combo with Elizabeth and Lori so I held onto one while the girls roatated. We didn't let Elizabeth have the walkie too much, though, cause every time she got on the radio, the only thing she would say was 'Breaker, Breaker, Breaker, errrrrrrrrrrrrr uhhhhhhhh....' Constantly…I mean constantly. whether you were standing right next to her, on the bus on the way to the banquet, or in the middle of the night. It was hilarious.

I am so glad I went up and did Indiana. For one, my boys were incredible. See and Hear was indeed a special group. The Mendenhalls have remained as one of my all-time favorite session directing couples, and I was truly blessed with wonderful co’s. It was also interesting to see for the first time how things are run outside of Texas. They were…different. Not necessarily better or worse, just different. The Midwest counselor group has a different culture that I really didn’t realize until just recently. After seeing EFY from the macro, program level as opposed the micro-focused on my boys level, it was pretty obvious. Needless to say, it has made me appreciate the traditions and culture we try to foster in Texas. I believe we truly are unique, and how awesome it was to be raised in this…environment…no family.

Again, Denton was an awesome week. We were blessed to have Shanna Davis in our company. She was a beautiful girl who had been in an accident a couple years before out in west Texas and after overcoming soooo much, still had difficulty getting around. It was an incredible thing seeing the entire group feed off of her energy, excitement, and sense of humor. Also, two of my participants from this group, who were not dating at the time, eventually got married..so that's special...Needless to say we were quite united. So much so that we won the ‘Spunity’ award (combination of the Spirit and Unity award…aka the best company), but.....we still came up short at the cheer-off.

We had a good cheer created by Peter Grey, possibly even a winner. I had such high hopes, but those hopes crashed and burned as I watched my company, Condemn Me Not, completely and utterly botch up their final performance. Even though I knew there was no possible way to take the prize, I have to admit I was pretty much on the ground rolling (yea, even rofl) watching our group have no clue what they were doing, running into each other, and pretty much make a complete fool of themselves in front of the entire session. Alas, I was now 0-5 and was, no lie, utterly convinced I needed a black kid to push me over the top. I just knew that was the one element I was lacking...Finished out the summer winless...Guess this means I just have to come back for another summer.