This trip was all about going out of your comfort zone. Everyone faced fears they thought they couldn’t conquer. This was the trip where people took a chance.

     The high ropes. They were something I would have been 100% fine not doing before I came to Windsor Mountain. I never felt the urge to do them because I am wicked afraid of heights, and broken legs don’t help with maneuvering on very thin wires fifty feet from the ground. During the instructors introduction to the high ropes I said that I couldn’t go up there because my leg was in a boot. He said, “Oh, you can still go up there. I’ve spotted a three-hounded pound man on this before.” On the outside I looked cool with this, but on the inside I was thinking, “Dude, you clearly didn’t get a very obvious hint that I don’t want to do this!” After I get my helmet and “girdle” on I was ready to go on the high ropes. The circle of trees that I was in the middle of when I stepped underneath the high ropes; they made me feel like an ant. These trees looked like they could touch the sky. When my turn came around I actually felt pretty good about myself. I climbed up the whole way to the wire going from massive maple to massive pine. After that my joints just locked up. I finally got on the wire after that I felt (to be optimistic) ok, but once I got on the wire I couldn’t stop talking. “Are you sure I should be up here”

“Yeah you’ll be fine.” The instructor said,

“Even with a boot?”

“Yeah! A kid with a broken pelvis has been up there before. I was very cautious about my balance. Everyone on the ground could feel how nervous I was, so Liam Brown started to cheer me on. “C’mon John, let’s go you got it!” I still felt a little woozy going from the supporting rope I was on to the next one. I started to feel a little good about myself and I lost focus. Then when I was halfway across the wire, I fell. Lucky for me the guy holding me was good at his job, and he stopped me from plummeting to my death. I thought after that, that I was going to be lowered down to the ground, but then...

“You guys want to help pull him back up,” the instructor said to my advisory. Everyone rushed over to pull me up. “One, two, three,” they all yanked me up and I continued the scary hell of walking fifty feet over the ground. I continued to titter my way across the wire. Once I started to come close to the other monumental pine I noticed something. A little bell was attached to the pine tree, and my goal from that moment forward was to hit that bell. Everyone on the ground knew it too and they started to chant, “hit the bell, hit the bell, hit the bell.” There was a small incline at the end of the line, but to get to the bell I gotta get to the pine. I felt more and more uneasy as I approached the gigantic tree, but suddenly I was there. I picked up the bell whacker (thing) and I beat that bell the way I beat baseballs. And that bell rang like my morning alarm, just this time I enjoyed it. Being up there I felt like I had conquered my fear.

     The waterfront was something I hadn’t thought I would go to that much when I heard they were close to a lake, but then I saw it. This lake looked like a shot from a motion picture. The lake was surrounded by the biggest collection of trees I had ever seen. It was a sea of green leaves, with a few orange speckled around to really put the beauty over the top. The first thing I thought when I saw this view was “I have to get closer to that.” So a got a kayak and zoomed out to the middle of the lake and just stopped. I stopped moving, I stopped thinking, I stopped having any worries at all. I just took in the view in front of me. Then I saw it in all its glory... the rope swing. I had always wondered what a rope swing would be like in real life, and I had always been dying to try one. So I paddle as quickly as I can over to land and hop out of my kayak and work my way over as quickly as I can. “Where are you going.” I turn and see Mr. Cribb.

“Uhh-I’m going to the rope swing.” I say (kinda hoping he wouldn’t care)

“I’m not sure how wise that would be with your current situation.”

“Yeah, but it’s the first time I’ve seen one in real life and bones start to heal after 8 weeks. And it’s been eight weeks.”

“Umm...”

“Can I at least do the low rope swing?”

“Uh, sure.”

I did the low rope swing and it was fine, but I needed more of a rush and a thrill. I thought “Well if I go on the high rope swing I would probably have more fun, but if Mr. Cribb sees me I could get in trouble and I could hurt my leg even more.” Weighing my options I thought to myself “Screw it. I will no regrets coming home from this trip.” When it came for my turn to go off I froze. I think some people could sense I was a little nervous. And it’s pretty scary, I would be jumping off a platform ten-twenty feet above the ground and I would be counting on the tree branch to not break and when I would reach the water I could reinjure my leg. Then some support came in. “Don’t think about it too much.” I looked over and it was my friend Charlie. I did the dead opposite of that. I thought about how I would regret not doing this, so that gave me the confidence to jump. Right there I conquered three fears. My fear of heights, my fear of hurting my leg, and my fear of Mr. Cribb yelling at me for going off the high part of the rope swing.

     The campfire. It was one of the most relaxing parts of camp. Just sitting by the campfire, hearing it crack and sizzle. Feeling the warm air in my skin while staring into the fire and the vast explosion of stars above me. The thing about stars that I think are crazy is that they are in a different solar system or galaxy than us. And we can look at them. They are trillions of miles away and we can still see them. This was the first time in a long while that I really relaxed. Even though I was sitting in the wet grass; I didn’t care. Then Mrs. Wade started to speak. “I want to sing a song with you guess, but I need you to be with me on this. And be respectful, because I counting on you guys.” Then we all started to sing. Surprisingly everyone actually was kind of respectful and sang along. Once the song was finished Mr. Starensier spoke up.

“Alright boys, if you guys want to stay for a couple more minutes you can.”

I thought that maybe ten people would stay maybe fifteen, but about more than half the class decided to stay. That’s when the dam broke. Everyone started to share things that they have clearly wanted to, for a good while. Everyone was balling like a baby without a pacifier. Then Ben Lisa spoke about his grandfather.

“I’ve had some trouble after my grandfather died. Uh... Im not the guy to talk about my feelings to much, but this something that I’ve been thinking about a ton. But I guess it’s better that you talk about something than bottle it up.” 

I thought “I need to do this.” So I spoke.

“Uh... my mom has been having some issues lately. With, uh... cancer, in her liver. But I’m taking Ben’s advice to talk rather than bottle it up.”