๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฌ. โค๏ธ
In 2008 I started working at a Boy Scout camp in Wisconsin. For 8 weeks every summer, I worked alongside dozens of other camp counselors to create a fun and memorable summer for Scouts, Leaders, and Parents alike! It was nothing like I had ever experienced before! ๐
๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐๐๐ค ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ซ ๐ข๐ง ๐๐๐๐ ๐โ๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ญ! ๐
It was the week I was assigned to work with a Troop, and I met a young Scout named Evan. At 11 years old, it was his first time attending camp, as well as his first time ever being away from home for an entire week!
Many Scouts typically see their week up at camp as an opportunity to be away from home and to be free from daily responsibilities. But for Evan it was a different story. By the time Day 2 had arrived, he ha become really homesick. ๐
I remember seeing him cry outside the camp’s main office. I remember Scouts from his Troop being dismissive of his behavior: โHe always does that! He just cries a lot!โ And I remember talking with him. ๐ฅ
Through his sniffles he explained to me how he was afraid of being away from home for so long. In fact, he was more worried about his parents and how they were back at home. He worried if they were truly okay with him being up at camp. ๐ฐ
I had never experienced a situation like this before with a Scout, let alone anyone. But he was looking to me for support. ๐
I remember putting my arm around him and offering him a new perspective. I asked him to consider his parentโs point of view, that perhaps his parents didn’t actually want him worrying about them. ๐
“๐๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅโ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ? ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ซ๐ฐ๐บ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง?” ๐
๐๐ญ ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ค ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ. ๐ฌ
We had a conversation or two after that, but by Day 4 he had become a lot more comfortable being at camp. I saw him taking merit badges, talking with Scouts from his troop, and enjoying himself in camp activities. ๐
I rarely spoke with him the rest of the week. But I was glad the situation with him had ended on a positive note. ๐ฏ
๐๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ก๐๐ฅ๐ฉ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ. ๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ญ๐จ๐จ๐ค ๐๐ฌ ๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ฉ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ซ.
…A few weeks after his troop left camp, I was at the main office when I was notified I had new mail. Typically I was receiving mail that summer from my family in the form of care packages and handwritten letters telling me how they missed me. โค๏ธ
๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ๐ง’๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ. ๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง. ๐ค
He sent me a handwritten letter thanking me for helping him that week. And along with the letter he enclosed a photo taken of us during a camp activity. ๐ท
I read the letter multiple times, unexpected tears filling me up with gratitude. ๐ ๐๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ ๐ญ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐. ๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ , ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐ก ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ฐ๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ ๐ฆ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ. ๐
This happened over 10 years ago. Not many people know this story. Not many people know about Evan. And not many people know about the impact they can have on others.
๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ง ๐ฆ๐๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ. ๐๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ง ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ซ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง’๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐. ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ฌ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง’๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ. โค๏ธ
His letter and photo now sit in a scrapbook atop my closet shelf, and I don’t plan on ever getting rid of it. While I worked at camp for another 5 summers, I never saw Evan again.
I don’t where he is or how he’s doing or if he even remembers writing this letter, but what I do know is that this moment left a solid mark on my heart. โค๏ธ
——-
FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA
LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/2RER81M
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2DSebCh
Instagram: https://bit.ly/2t2Kd8A
Twitter: https://bit.ly/3983M4L
Holonis: https://bit.ly/2t8Rwvi
