Day 27: Summer Camp Squad

Every summer since 2004, I have been involved with a Christian summer youth event we call Mountain Top. It's 3-4 packed days of activities, music, doing things as a group, and intense meetings called power sessions. This photo was taken from 2018. Ever since I've been old enough to lead a group, I usually get a wild bunch of high school boys. Most of the ones you see in this photo have been in my group the past few years and have just graduated high school. 

This photo makes me smile for many reasons. We are all trying to be serious in ridiculous shirts. Shirts that I didn't even want to get. I don't wear purple well. And that shirt is a size small which is way too small for me. Oh and it cost $17 dollars. So why go through all the trouble?

You see, the conference was held at a college in Ohio called Kenyon College. We've been here before many times in the past. So the boys knew the souvenir shop well. It all began when Jake (middle of couch) wanted to get a shirt that said "Kenyon Dad" just for the fun of it. The store did not have any of those. However, they did have the shirts we were wearing. Kenyon sounds awful close to the African country of Kenya. And I can bet that Kenyon college students get annoyed explaining all the time that they go to school in Ohio and not Africa. Anyways, some of the boys thought it would be funny to get this shirt. I told them I don't care, but I'm not spending that much on a shirt I'm probably never gonna wear again. Then they said "What if we all do it?" I still wasn't keen on the idea, but the thought of it being a good bonding experience and how hilarious it would be was something I couldn't say no to only if everyone in the group did it. So we did. 

For that entire day, people from the conference kept seeing us and wondered why there were this many of us wearing these goofy shirts. We stood out, got complimented, and really looked like a squad. This photo is a reminder of that event in 2018 and all the good times we had. It will also never let me forget that gave in to spending $17 on a shirt too small, representing a college I never went to, and probably won't ever wear again.