Camp

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Clark and I took the kids to camp this weekend. Ordinarily when I hear the word “camp”, I have visions of shower shoes, shaving cream fights, and roach motels. Those were the sort of camps that I visited growing up. For Salem and Mia however, their first camp experience was five-star compared to mine. Our wilderness experience included a cozy fireplace, a wrap around porch, rocking chairs, and high speed internet. I had to catch myself from using my woeful camping tales to guilt my kids into eating their gourmet french toast breakfast. “Kids, be thankful. When I was a camper, we had to hike 5 miles uphill both ways in the snow to the Slop Shack for a crust of moldy bread and pray that no one pelted us with a balloon full of shaving cream before we got there. Now eat up.” Of course, no camp experience is complete until some poor underclassmen gets elected to consume a cafeteria concoction of Dr. Pepper, scrambled egg, and toothpaste. Camp just isn’t camp unless somebody pukes. So while this camp experience was first rate, it still had its fair share of disgusting moments if only to maintain camping integrity.

We weren’t exactly campers though. We were invited to lead the music for a weekend student ministry retreat which meant that Salem was never sighted without a set of makeshift drum sticks in his hands, and Mia was known to break out into spontaneous dancing at any given moment. It is a good thing that this is not the sort of ministry that frowns on dancing because Mia’s diapered moves look a tad bit like she’s auditioning for a BET music video. Get low, Sweet Pea. It was a family affair, and for Clark and I, it held special significance. We have been coming to this camp since before we were married. If you’ve been following the Story of Us, you know that music is what brought us together. Now that we are going on seven years of marriage, moments like this weekend are more relationship building than they are about the music. Somewhere around the second verse we start getting nostalgic thinking about all the places we’ve been and people we’ve met on our musical journey, and next thing you know, we’re honeymooners all over again. For some couples it’s tennis or wine making or Scrabble that brings them back to center. For Clark and I, it is going hoarse in front of 400 kids who were taking their first steps when I was graduating from college. Who said anything about feeling old?

I was scrolling through some shots of this weekend’s event when I came across this photo.

Ladies and Gentlemen, give it up for A Vision in Stripes

Do you think we stopped to ponder even for a slight moment our match-y match-y couples moment before stepping on stage that night? And what is with the goofy grins? As fashion faux pas as we may be, there are few things I love doing more than what you see here. 

Beasley and Beasley give this camp experience two thumbs up. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to go iron our new His and Hers towels.

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