By Wednesday, you think you’ve got this whole camp thing down to a science. Breakfast, group huddles, drills, lunch. Pregame pep talk, red versus blue, team meeting, dinner. Game time, huddle time, shower time, bed time. Staff meeting, prep, sleep. Ready to get up and do it all again. But sometimes life likes to turn out a little differently than you expect.
From the moment we got in the vans this morning to head up to the field, I could tell the boys were wired. They were starting to get used to this routine too, starting to feel safe amongst these coaches and teammates. Their baseball skills are improving as well; the simulated game today was one of the best I’ve ever seen played by kids this age.
After a long, non-stop day of hitting instruction, rotations, and, of course, sunflower seed spitting, campers were beyond eager to head back to the cabins. Twelve of our sixteen boys have come to Camp before, and they could guess what was coming next: birthday party.
The birthday party for everyone is quite the time, let me tell you. There’s a bounce house with a slide and one with a velcro wall that some of the coaches may have enjoyed more than the kids. Balloons are hung everywhere and promptly popped or hoarded in the boys’ bunks. Streamers are taken down as the kids enjoy using them for “hair.” Each boy gets a cupcake with a candle to blow out after we sing “Happy Birthday.” They also receive a gift. But you know what the highlight this year was by far? Something new to the whole celebration: karaoke.
I’ve never seen nine to twelve year old boys so excited to sing in my entire life. I’m pretty sure the cool microphones, computer screen, and other equipment had at least something to do with it. They sang for hours upon hours, usually with a minimum of four boys screaming into one mic. My personal favorite moment was a fantastic rendition of “Let It Go” by one little camper and his coach. It was just so fun. In the words of another camper, “This is my best birthday ever. Thank you.”
So what did you expect to be different? is what you’re probably thinking right about now. Little boys to not like sports and parties? Well, no, I knew they liked baseball. (Hey, it’s day three.) I knew they’d be excited about a huge birthday shindig. I just didn’t think this is how it would look.
Loving to play baseball can look like being upset when you get tagged out at second. Experiencing a super cool party can be trying to spit words to a song out faster than you can actually read them. Seeing if people care about you can be throwing water on their head to see if they scream at you. It might not be what we expect, but the boys are learning and growing just the same. And really, that’s the point of all of this: to bring healing. Sometimes it just looks a little different.
