Connor

Hey Quest! I was extremely blessed to be able to go back to Sky for session 9, and I just want to share something really cool that I saw through one of the youngest campers at Sky that week.

So one of my favorite activities throughout the whole week is that Stonewall gets to go hang out with the youngest guys cabin on camp, Rockwall. I love those guys, they're so much fun. Anyways, one of the guys I had the privilege of hanging out with was named Connor. He was such an awesome kid, and even though he was almost a decade younger than me, he really impacted me session 9. Besides being hilarious, he was one of the kindest kids you'd ever meet. He wasn't mean to a single kid there, he'd let people cut him in line while he was waiting on me, (which doesn't sound like a big deal, but when you're 6, it's gigantic) and seeing the way he treated people was so awesome. But also, he said one of the wisest things I've heard in a little while while we were hanging out. We had a swim race in the pool, and I let him win, then acted sad that I lost. First off, he tried to make me feel better, because he genuinely thought he had hurt my feelings. That goes back to how caring he was. But he looked at me and said, "Don't worry Joe, being last can be a good thing. Sometimes, I like to be last." I asked him, "Why do you think that Connor?" And like it was no big deal, he said, "Because when you're last, you get to see everything unfold in front of you, and see how it goes, so you can be prepared for next time." I asked where he had heard that, and he said he made it up and kept it in mind whenever he lost a competition or anything like that. That absolutely blew me away that he had a mindset like that, and he was in Rockwall.

Fast forwarding a little bit, while we were waiting to go to closing show in the AC, Connor ran through the doors and bear hugged me, and said he'd been looking for me forever, and that he wanted to say goodbye, because Sky 1 and 2 and just had their closing show. He then pulled me outside and said he wanted me to meet his parents. And so I got to go talk to his parents for maybe 5 minutes, and explain just what he had taught me this summer, even though he was in the youngest cabin. And as I talked to them, Connor was standing right there, and was just beaming. And his parents were so proud of him. And before he left, I wanted to give him something to remember me by. So I asked him what he wanted, and he just looked up and said, "A hug and a silly band will be perfect." And that's exactly what he got. A hug and a cross shaped silly band. And that was probably the last time I'll ever see Connor. I didn't know what city he lived in, I didn't know if he was coming back to Sky, heck, I didn't even know his last name. But besides my counselors, saying goodbye to Connor was probably the hardest goodbye I had to make, because that 6 year old kid taught me so much in such a small amount of time. I wish I was more like him when I was his age. He's someone I barely knew, but I'll never forget.

-Joe