Best Summer Ever

This summer has been filled with more classic, nostalgia soaked adventures than I've had in all the years since high school. (Cause let's face it...nothing beats high school summers. Well except maybe childhood summers, but I remember feeling really bored as a kid during the summer months, so maybe not.) Anyway, all of my favorite memories from this summer, the ones I would label as adventures, all include swimming for some reason. The first was our "adult sneak out" at Castaway. The second was a swim in the creek with my YL girls. And tonight is the third: a swim in Lake Winnebago while stranded in the dark because the pontoon ran out of gas. Allow me to explain.

After hanging out at our house tonight, Jaycie ,a soon-to-be sophomore, invited us to her house for a ride on her pontoon. I, with my affinity for water related adventures, jumped at the invitation. Our group quickly dwindled to me, Jaycie, and Nick (another sophomore in waiting) but none of us seemed to mind. With the threat of running out of gas, we opted for a slow pace in order to preserve our reserves. It was perfect. Touring around the silent lake atop the stillest of waters looking at the houses lit up by the glow of lamps and televisions. We were completely alone on the water. Nick accidentally dropped a buoy into the water and I volunteered to go in after it. Jaycie killed the engine and I jumped into the warm water to retrieve the buoy. I swam back to the boat and we attempted to continue our trip around the lake only Jaycie couldn't get the engine started back up. It sputtered a little but wouldn't turn over. "Out of gas," she calmly announced. She called her parents to come and tow us back home. Her non-chalance over our predicament made me feel like this was a common occurrence.

"Well, we might be awhile if you guys want to swim," she said. Nick and I didn't need any more permission than that and we promptly jumped in. We treaded water in the dark summer night laughing and telling stories and wishing there were more stars like the way it was in Colorado at Young Life camp. Joy wraps itself around me in moments like these, but tonight's wasn't a hyper, exciting kind of joy, but rather a quiet, strong, and peaceful contentedness.

Our rescue crew approached and we climbed back aboard our stranded vessel. Even the tow home was pleasant. Jaycie's parents didn't seem to mind having to come rescue us, even when her dad tested the engine and discovered that we weren't in fact out of gas, but rather Jaycie just seemed to be a little confused as to how to start the engine. No harm, no foul.

When I came home I posted as my facebook status that I had had a fun night on the lake with Jaycie and Nick. Within a few minutes they had both commented on my status with the equivalent of a "ditto". We didn't need a big crowd or profound conversation to have a meaningful night, but just each other's company in a simple and beautiful setting. Chap Clark, an expert on adolescent culture, is absolutely correct when he said kids just want and need adults to be present and available in their lives. Parents are a vital presence, but kids also benefit from a secondary adult presence as well. As a Young Life leader I have a platform to do this, to just "show up" with no agenda and no strings attached. The kids tonight obviously appreciated it, but I don't know if anyone tonight had more fun than I did. So maybe me, the adult, needs kids in my life just as much as they need me, maybe just for the sole purpose of teaching me how to enjoy life's little adventures as life's most beautiful moments.