This past summer I worked at a summer camp as a camp counselor.
By the end of the summer I hoped to achieve two things.
First I wanted to make an impact on a child's life no matter how small.
Second I wanted to have a kid come up to me and tell me that they had a fun summer.
It all began on the first day of summer camp.
I was sitting alone on the bus heading to summer camp, when a young boy sat next to me on the bus.
He looked very nervous as he sat down with me.
This was his first day coming to camp and he wasn't sure if he'd like it.
I asked him about what he likes to do.
Instead of telling me what he liked to do, he told me this dream he had.
In the dream flying bacon was taking over the world.
It was quite the elaborate story given his age; it reminded me a lot of Star Wars.
I asked him if he liked Star Wars.
His eyes dilated and then he began to talk all about star wars.
He told me about how he liked the game "Angry Birds Star Wars".
He went on to describe all the levels that he had beaten.
Before we knew it we were at camp and it was time to part ways.
As he got off he looked back at me and waved and from that moment on, I knew that this kid would be a big part of my summer.
The afternoon rolled by and it came time to head home.
When I got on the bus I saw the boy who I had sat with earlier.
He said to me "Matt sit with me."
I asked him if he had a good day at camp.
He told me in a playful voice "I had a fun day at camp without YOU!"
I said to him "Oh really is that so? Fun without me I don't think that can happen."
"I had infinity billion, infinity billion, infinity billion times more fun than YOU!"
"Oh yeah well I had zillion trillion billion more fun than you!"
We kept going back and forth for quite some time, until I finally said "Man you beat me I can't think of a bigger number."
He got very excited almost to the point of pure joy.
"I beat you!" he said
"Yeah well you knew a bigger number than I did."
The first week of camp had past and every morning and every afternoon my bus buddy would sit next to me.
We would talk all about "Angry Bird Star Wars" and other games he liked to play.
In the second week of camp, my bus buddy earned his very first star.
A star is an award given to campers who are having fun or doing a good job at camp.
I said to him "Whoa you have a star?! I wish I could've gotten a star."
He said "You can't you're an adult. Adults don't get stars."
"Just because I'm an adult doesn't mean I still can't get a star."
He told me to close my eyes.
When I opened my eyes he had placed his star in my hands.
I asked him excitedly if the star was for me to keep.
When he said yes I said enthusiastically "I got a star! YEAH!" but it was short lived.
He told me to close my eyes.
He then took the star back and laughed like an evil scientist and said "This star is mine now!"
I frowned at the loss of my star, which made him only laugh harder.
Throughout the summer we had various dress up days.
One in particular, I decided to dress up as a hippie.
I put on a wig and a tie dye shirt and set out for camp.
When my bus buddy entered the bus he was taken aback by my appearance.
He asked me what happened to my hair.
I told him "Well you see I made this magic shampoo last night that makes my hair grow longer."
"No way."
"Yes way."
"I don't believe you."
"You want to see the bottle?"
This attracted the attention of everyone around me.
I shuffled through my bag and pulled out an imaginary magic shampoo bottle.
One of the kids said "See I told you it was just a wig there is nothing in his hands."
However my bus buddy didn't seem to hear what the kid had said and said "I see the bottle."
"Yeah, it's really heavy bottle."
"May I hold it?"
"Sure just don't spill it."
Sure enough when he grabs the imaginary bottle and he gestures as if he where opening the top.
He then empties out all the magic shampoo on the ground and says to me "Now your hair is long forever!"
"NOOO! How could you do this to me I don't want long hair forever!"
"Too bad!"
One morning my bus buddy and I were having a chat about foreign languages, when he said to me "I know Spanish."
"Well just because you know a few words of another language doesn't mean you know it."
"Yeah it does."
"Whatever."
"I know Chinese too!" and from that moment on he was convinced that he was proficient in both languages.
Later in the summer I got to be his camp counselor.
The moment he saw me he ran over to me and gave me a hug.
He grabbed me by the hand and dragged me around introducing me to all of his friends.
The entire session he stood by my side.
He imitated anything I did.
If I would be leading a camp song, he would be singing it louder.
It always seemed like it was a competition with him on who had the most camp spirit.
By far though, it was the best week of summer camp I've ever had.
Earlier in the summer the staff had received superlatives.
I ended up receiving "The Big Kid".
I did not understand why at first, I received it but by the end of the summer my bus buddy helped me realize why.
My bus buddy taught me the importance of being a kid at heart.
It allows you to see and imagine life differently.
It's a place where you do not have to be perfect in order to succeed and all that really matters is whether or not you're having fun.
