Strangers vs. Friends

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It was sorta a mini TCC reunion at the Lehman Ave youth rally. Many of the main players were there. Sorta makes me wonder how unenthusiastic it could be if I was to ever organize a real life TCC reunion. Would anybody come? Would anybody care? I’ve been asked…many times to organize one by those Johnson kids. “Oh yeah, Jeff, organize a reunion.” I suspect a camp reunion would be…as Todd would say, “an awkwardness level equal to that of your average 8th grade honors class formal gala.” One week at camp vs. 4 years in high school. Even though I’ve never been to either, I’d suspect neither high school nor camp reunions are ever really good.
Brian Proctor was there. Brian was the kid in 1992 who got a wad of pre-chewed gum from the gum board and put it in his mouth for the sake of getting alot of points in the nitty gritty game. He’s a preacher now. And a pretty good one. Mars Hill is his congregation. I’m glad for how he turned out. This is actually the first time I’ve known someone growing up who became a preacher. Lots of times you just don’t realize that some people you know in church could become preachers. Preachers came from preaching schools, not from summer camps or your home congregation. There will be more kids I know who become preachers, I suspect. When I did bring up the wad o’ gum incident, he seemed to sorta laugh it off. However I suspect that he secretly resented me bringing that one up. Kinda like those times old relatives bring up embarrassing stories about you at family reunions.
Johnny K. was there too. Johnny is so positive toward life. If I’m ever in an upset mood, I give Johnny a call. Usually that sets things right. One of his main themes of life is Christians should be excited and happy. He’s said that at many a devotional or sermon. And he’s right. We should be happy for what we’ve been blessed with.
Part of me wants those really good church camps….the ones from 1991 or 1992….or even 2003….to stay locked in place forever. Sorta a never never land where we never grow old. I could have perpetually stayed 17 in 1992. Always a camper. Then again change is good. We couldn’t stay with the same people over and over again. As if one week of camp was replayed year after year. Groundhog Day, you know.
But I know these kids will grow old. Some of them…like Scott or Todd will be lifelong friends. Others will become mere strangers to me. I’m not sure of the aspect ratio of strangers vs. friends. I’d like to be friends with all of them. But some of them drift away.
I did do some online photo ordering yesterday. It’s sorta a end of the year summer tradition. I send all my summer photos to the printers. And I did doctor a few of the photos. Am I altering history? Its really just for my own benefit. If I didn’t want a certain person in a photo, and managed to photoshop them out of there, am I changing the original intent of the photo? After all, the intent of taking photos is to document life. The LA Times did it and managed to dismiss a staff member because of it. But this is for my own personal album, not for photo journalistic purposes, so I’m not worried. I’m just thinking a decade from now, will I even remember that I altered the photo? Will that effect my original memory of who was there?
Other altered photos: