Friday, July 19, 2013

camp story


It all started with that damn
Bruce Willis.
We were in Sag Harbor
over Thanksgiving
and decided to watch 
the Bruce Willis movie
Moonrise Kingdom.
For once,
Lyons even joined us
sitting in front of the fire
on a cold November night
snacking on popcorn.

Moonrise Kingdom
 is a fun, funky, 
beautifully filmed, 
wonderfully acted,
retro flick about two children
who run away together.


The young boy in the story
runs away from camp
and there are many scenes 
of Camp Ivanhoe
in the movie.
While watching,
Lyons casually mentioned
that he'd "always wanted to 
go to a camp like that."

Immediately, an alarm went off.
Oh no!
We never sent Lyons to camp!
We had Failed as parents! 
How did this happen?
When did he turn 15?
How did we miss giving him 
this essential opportunity?
How could we fix it?

We decided to give Lyons
a trip to camp
as one of his Christmas presents.
John and I spent a great deal of time researching camps,
 acquiring personal recommendations, 
and watching inspirational videos.
We found the Perfect Camp.
It's a Christian leadership camp
for kids who have completed 9th grade.
We felt that 
this was IT!
It was gonna be Great!
We were so Excited!

However, when Lyons opened the gift,
he looked up at us
Horrified
and declared,
"I didn't say I Want to go to camp.
I said I Wish I Had gone
When I was a Kid."

Oops.

We have spent the past 7 months
arguing, cajoling, and bribing
Lyons to try to have a good attitude
towards camp.
It was going to be an Adventure.
An Experience of a Lifetime.

We flew out to California to drop Lyons off
almost two weeks ago.
Since then, we have received
 three short phone calls from him. 
He was Not loving it.
The last call was the night before a 
Three Day Hiking Trip
In The Wilderness
with a
24 Hour Isolation Period.

He comes home tomorrow.

It is my prayer
that this was a positive time of personal growth for him ~
even if he doesn't see that now.


It is also my prayer
that he's still speaking to me!



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