Friends

When I was a young man growing up I used to go to this summer camp in Virginia. It was a church affiliated camp and I would always try to weasel my way into staying longer than I was supposed to. Many years I was quite successful. When I was 13 I was their for 7 weeks as opposed to the usual 1 or 2. I started going to this camp when I was about 8. I am now 45. If my math is correct, and it should be because I used a calculator, that was 37 years ago.

I can honestly say that this camp provided me with the best friends that I have ever had. Bar none. Friends who accepted me for who I was. Friends who told me the truth even when it was uncomfortable. Friends who sang with me, who played with me, who prayed with me.

One summer at this camp, I was working on senior staff and one thing we looked forward to was to go into Front Royal while all the campers were in bible class. It was a way to get away when there was little time to do so. One very good friend went into town with some of her friends and I went with another fellow. Not planning on meeting these girls, just going our separate way. Me and my friend went by the general store and wandered around. When we came out there was a note under the windshield wiper that basically said, "Hi there good-looking guys" "sure would love to meet you"and such stuff. Little did we know that our close personal friends who would never dream of hurting our feelings, were inside another store watching us and snickering at our confused looks. You know who you are.

But I would trade nothing for these friends. They let you spend a few days with them in their own home, take you out to fancy mexican restaurants,
let you help them hang fancy plate hangers, (most people just put them in the cabinet), show you thousands of pictures of when we were younger, skinnier, less gray, and wonder where the time went. And they don't even get mad at you when you accidentally bleed on their sheets. Nuff said.

Friends like this are hard to come buy. These pics are just a couple of them. There are so many more. What can I say but thank you for being my friend. I don't deserve friends as good as you.