Day 115 - Moose Antler Straw (Throw)

The Drama Queen tries to model the Moose
Antler Straw.

Got this straw at Six Flags in Southern California many years ago. Not sure of the specific timing, but it seems to me that my good friend, Mark, was attempting to hook me up with his (then) girlfriend's best friend. So I know it was more than 10 and a half years ago... I do remember I was living in Iowa at the time, working as a youth pastor - and I came back from CA with my ear pierced after a dare from Mark. But that's another story.

But back to the straw - I believe we at at a nicer restaurant that evening and Mark and the girls lied to the waiter and said it was my birthday.  I was so embarassed.  But I got a free straw and some sort of dessert.

 I have to ask once again, why do I keep things like this??

Anyway, I am reminded that I have not talked to Mark or his then-girlfriend, now-wife, Debbie, for a very long time.

Do you ever get into those movies like "It's a Wonderful Life" that explore the way life events build in chains that could so easily have been altered? If you think about it too much, it can really make your brain (and maybe your heart) hurt. And when I consider the impact each life choice has on subsequent events, it always reminds me to PRAY MORE.

Well, Mark is currently a teacher living (happily, I think!) with his wife and two kids in Hemet, California, and none of his current reality would exist if I hadn't befriended the dorm pariah, Phil, my freshman year at Wabash. Phil and I were both looking for summer camp counseling jobs during the spring of 1987. Major difference: he was looking for camps which catered to rich kids and I was looking for any camp that would hire me. Another difference: I don't think Phil was praying about his summer plans, but I definitely was. In fact, I had specifically prayed, "God, please show me what you want me to do this summer ... and put it in bold print, so I won't miss it." I said "bold print" figuratively, but then it seemed to me that God answered me literally within a week or so of that prayer.

Phil had gotten his name on some sort of camp mailing list and one day walked into my room and threw a bundle of letters on my desk: "Not interested in any of these..." On the top of the pile was a letter from "Morgan Memorial Camp" - a Goodwill-sponsored camp for inner city Boston kids located in the center of Massachussetts. The return address on the envelope was in large, thick blue letters.

It struck me that this was the job I was supposed to pursue.

To trace the consequent chain out in broad strokes: Got the job at Camp Morgan ... befriended a German guy, Kai, who taught martial arts at camp ... came back to Wabash and developed a close friendship with a new freshman, Mark ... kept in touch with Kai ... a few years later Kai gets a job at an outdoor school in California ... I end up with a few extra months after graduation from Wabash so I get myself a job at the same outdoor school (this would now be the fall of 1990)... LOVED it ... I recommend the same place to Mark when he graduates a year later (I'm working in Iowa by now) ... he falls in love with Southern California ... eventually starts substitute teaching to support himself ... one day he substitutes for a cute special ed teacher named Debbie...

And there you go.

Maybe that's why I thought it might all come back around to me and I'd end up falling for Debbie's friend, Janette, when I came out to visit Mark in California. We had a great time that day at Six Flags - but it had more to do with the roller coasters than any sparks between myself and Janette.

The only love interest I had that day was with the Batman coaster. It was gnarly.

Fortunately for me (and I assume for Janette as well), God had other plans.  Better plans.