I don't even know where to begin. Fall Weekend was wild, exhausting, fun, intense and left us with a ton of vision and momentum about our next steps with Young Life in Franklin County. When all was said and done we ended up with a total of 28 people from FranCo signed up for Rockbridge. This was my first Fall Weekend taking kids to camp so I was hoping that all my ducks were in a row. The biggest question mark that came together at the last second was the bus.
Originally we didn't think that we would need a bus. It was our first year taking kids, and a few places that we asked were out of our price range. I figured with 4 leaders we could take a couple cars of kids with us driving. That was before we had twenty kids sign up in two days. We then realized we needed to find a bus. Luckily at the 11th hour we found a bus, our own driver for the bus and were approved with the insurance the day of Fall Weekend. The last step was to get the bus to the YMCA parking lot where we were to meet kids at 6:30. And then the bus wouldn't start.
We spent a half an hour trying to figure out what the heck to do. The bus was in one parking lot, the kids were in another and it was freezing outside. As the minutes ticked on half of our leaders and committee were at the bus with our driver trying to figure out what was wrong while the other half hung out with kids and tried to reassure parents who probably wondered if we knew what we were doing. Just as we decided to pack into cars with our leaders and committee driving, the problem was found. In a school bus all of the emergency exits must be perfectly locked AND the driver seatbelt must be on. We now know this.
Finally, 45 minutes late, the bus rolled around the corner to cheers from kids and parents alike. Undeterred we clambered on the bus, made a quick headcount and checked for health forms, and started our journey to the greatest place on Earth; Rockbridge.
Word of mouth spread pretty quick in Franklin so many kids that we didn't know previously made the trip. Kerry and Becca had never met 95% of the girls on the bus while I only knew about half of the guys. Ben was taking a late car down with our three varsity basketball players, a cheerleader and her good friend Jill. The bus ride became a rallying point. We made Franklin County chants, did our best to get on the phone line with Delilah, our favorite radio show host, and ate countless cookies provided by our committee and parents.
My favorite part was that most of the kids had no idea what Young Life even was. They were there simply on somebodies word that it was going to be the best weekend of there life. A certain guy was introduced to me by Alan Janney, a teacher at FCHS, who said he should go. He walked into the room, was introduced to me, Mr. Janney told him he should go to the weekend and he looked at me and said, "You think I should go?"Having just met him I said "I guarantee it'll be the best weekend of your life." He turned his form in the very next day. On the way up the kids asked a million questions just wanting to know what it would look like so we continued to be cryptic not wanting to ruin any surprises.
Finally we rolled into the gates of Rockbridge and pulled up to the entrance tent as the kids marveled through the windows of the place we had just arrived at. We had made it.
To be continued . . . Sorry, but I'm in the yearbook classroom and I have to leave! But I'll try to finish this story soon!
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