Imagine this… you take a trip to lisbon and onn your final night, meet a cool guy from from the same state as you. you both go out with some others to a food hall and subsequently to an irish pub. you leave the next day but not before you exchange instagram profiles. months later, you end up joining him on a trip to Svalbard and get an invite to something he calls the friendly reunion. That SEPTEMBER, you attend your first reunion in West VIrginia immediately after moving bback to the states. four years later, you attend your fourth in the poconos.
It’s wild to me that I can trace what is consistently one of the highlights of my year to one spontaneous trip I took and HAPPENING to be at the same hostel as sean. This year, as already mentioned, we were at a camp in the poconos. another rva friend and i drove up together and arrived thursday night. the first night of the reunion always starts with an icebreaker where we connect with (oftentimes) a new face wehre we usually proceed to talk until what is probably too late.
But, alas, time went on and we woke up the next morning in time for BREAKFAST (most of us, anyway) and a morning of choose-your-own-adventure activities. At lunch time, I realized the kitchen staff was on our side in making sure we were actually satisfied with our meals (last year was painful; the camp considered vegetarians/vegans as dietary PREFERENCES and they only respected DIETARY restrictions). The day passed in a blur and before we knew it, we were on our way to a corn maze. The corn maze, inn the context of team power rangers, was a hot mess. But post-maze, a large group of us had a blast on the slides. after returning to the camp, the night devolved into a karaoke/acapella situtation (yet another thing you can count on for a friendly reunion).
Again, BREAKFAST on Saturday was the first event of the day, followed by more choose-your-own-adventures, lunch, and then…finally…the olympics. It was made up of an orange-neck-transfer relay, rock paper SCISSORS tourney, lip sync battle, blind soda tasting quiz, ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A FIFTH GRADER and egg toss. FROM THERE, the top two teams had a final creative showdown; where they both presented an infomercial-type of skit about the reunion. we then broke off into playing games where a few campers started a smores delivery service (hype) and a few of us debated one of the most serious questions…How many 7 year olds can you take on in a fight? and again, our night ended with a karaoke/acapella situation.
FINALLY, we woke up on our final morning and gathered for rbeakfast one last stime before packing up and saying our farewells. naturally, goodbyes are not quick in this group, so the morning still consisted of an auction of REMAINING goodies, Distribution of remaining beer, and a line to say goodbye specifically to sean (sean sean sean sean *chanting*)
Every year i feel so blessed to be able to take part in such a special weekend. it’s a common thing you hear over the weekend, jsut people ebing grateful for having such a safe space. we all disconnect and there’s a over arcing feeling of trust within the group, even though every year there are a handful of strangers among us. and this year especially, I’m celebrating I left with no finger fractures (woooooooooo!!!) My left fist is forever ruined from last year (unless someone wants to try to break it again and see if that fixes anything)
I’m also trying to hold myself accountable and am planning to post at least one more time before the end of the year (I have a trip planned already!!!) so if you’ve made it this far, remind me to post starting november 3rd.
à tout!
