If you asked me, "How did today go?" my response would be with another question: "At which point in the day are you referring to?" You see, there isn't always a full good day, then a full bad day. Or even a bad week and then a good week. More interestingly, there's good moments and bad moments. So, if I told you, "Today went great!" that wouldn't necessarily be correct. However, if I told you, "Today was awful!" that expression wouldn't quite be an accurate description either. In other words, today truly did have its highs and its lows.
I'll begin with the highs (because they came first chronologically). Rock climbing. Quite possibly the coolest thing ever. Pre-trip the kids were so anxious to go rock climbing that it was almost hard to manage them. However, when the GOAT van pulled up to the house, honking the horn, and greeting us all with excitement and smiles, this impatience was suddenly quenched with the water of adventure. Upon arrival, we entered the climbing gym (followed by a brief moment of running around) and then began our instructions. The kids were broken up into groups, each with a passionate and energetic leader who began instructing them and motivating each one of them to climb. It was quite phenomenal. Seeing all of the kids having a chance to strive for the top of a physical wall, and making it, was almost a metaphorical victory of each one of them knowing that they can defeat any wall that they may face in their lives. They were trying their best. Struggling. Then succeeding. Then gaining confidence. For those who struggled the most, they learned the most. And for those who were in the process of struggling, there was a buddy or a group of kids cheering them on and shouting for them to try harder and to keep going. This part of the trip (about an hour and a half) was truly a blessing and a great moment in the summer. At one point, afraid of jumping down from the platform, literally the whole gym of 30 people were cheering on Matthew for him to make the plunge into the bed of foam. And what's cooler than that: Steven was the one who started the cheer. Pause. Take all of this in. Take in all of the lessons learned and the positive behavior. Absorb the teamwork and the camaraderie. Got it? Okay, good.
Now on to the lows. I truly don't even want to mention the lows, mainly because I don't want to harp on them. However, seeing this and analyzing it, will give us a benchmark as to where we've come from once we look back on the whole summer come August 10th. So, I proceed. Note, I'll tell this story in realtime, as if you were watching a movie. However, do realize that all of the details were not known or figured out by myself in the order that I'm going to describe these events. In other words, this all happened so fast and haphazardly that I didn't get the whole story of everything until the interns talked about it at the end of the day. You'll see.
Well, of course with my back turned, Steven, sitting atop the climbing dome thing (see the pictures), despite his positive behavior the past hour and a half, decided that it would be funny or something to push Jessica off of the dome. You see, they climb the dome, sit on top of it, then take turns jumping into the foam. Great fun, when everyone is playing nice. However, Jessica (the girl who had a run-in with Steven yesterday), was not prepared for this nudge. And, she fell in such a posture where her leg scraped the side of the dome (on one of the climbing grips perhaps) and got a nasty gash in her shin. I turn around to the sight of a crying girl on the ground. My mind: "Oh, crap, what just happened?"A few GOAT instructors lovingly rush to the scene, unveiling a nasty cut that was unfortunately bleeding moderately. I run in to assist in the care. The 3 of us, with the girl, head to lobby and console and support her while the hero of a man Timothy performs the best first-aid treatment I've ever seen.
Ok. Pause. That's all happening, right? The whole surgery scene is taking place in the lobby. Now picture the gym. This next part is coinciding with the 15 minutes of "surgery." About 20 kids are now upset, rambunctious, and accusatory towards Steven. He begins fostering stories about how it was accidental. This further upsets the group. His older sister begins yelling at him as well as the other interns for misbehavior and for not punishing him yesterday to prevent this. A fight breaks out. Plenty of disrespect and cussing takes place. Then, as I hear all of this screaming taking place from the lobby, I leave the girl for a moment, walking into the gym to find a very unruly scene. Other interns help Jessica, while I help to separate the fight. Then I have a cool down moment outside with the fighting kid. Upon re-entry, I find everyone sitting down in silence, almost awkwardly. To this moment, I'm not sure how that happened (as I was outside), but I'll simply call it an utter act of God for now.
Shell-shocked, the interns, myself, and the GOATs all look around at each other as to what our next move might be. SIMON SAYS! Oh, what a joy. The best cure for chaos is a game. As the hours wind down, we devise a seating arrangement plan of sorts to keep fights from breaking out on the bus. Upon carrying that out, we again encountered some issues. For one, another kid (who had been looking bad all day) runs to the bathroom and begins throwing up. Pause. My mind: "Seriously?" My reaction: A small, flabbergasted giggle just laughing at the overwhelming situation. However, still positive. Someone's gotta be. We load the vans, equipped with a throw up bucket, and head home. Not a real biggie, but somehow someone had a can of root beer…and it spilled in the van. Small apples compared to everything else.
We trekked home and dropped them all off. Last stop--Steven. Unfortunately, but necessarily, we had to inform him that he can't come to camp the rest of the week. To me, that's the hardest part. Seeing a kid who needs love and care and attention SO badly, but, due to disciplinary reasons, he's simply got to go home.
Well, you still hanging in there? Oh, by the way, this is day 2. But it's only getting better. As the summer goes on, there will be growth. And even if today might have really felt like a day in the trenches, we can still hold onto the highs. For one, the highs were awesome. Some of the best stuff ever. The lows might have been pretty ridiculous--but that's how we learn. Think of it this way: a before and after picture. If the before picture is fine, what makes the after picture so special? It's only when we have a rough before picture that we can truly appreciate that pristine, beautiful after picture.
I know that I'm going on forever (and I could go longer). But, I want to stop and give a huge shout out to GOAT and the rest of the interns and volunteers. Everyone worked so amazingly together in each situation, highs and lows. Seriously, GOAT is the bomb.com. I sent a thank you e-mail to them already, but I'd much rather send an e-hug because they deserve it.
Anyways, check out the pictures and take care.
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