Flying in Fear

I went a large part of my life without realizing that I have a fear of heights.

But yes, I definitely have a fear of heights. You may be asking yourself why I am suspended in mid-air hanging by some ropes and screaming in this photo. The answer: High School Fall Retreat.

Not to be confused with High School Musical 3: Senior Year, which was released in theatres this past weekend.

We'll talk more about that later, don't even worry.

Anyway, this year we had Fall Retreat at Camp Timberline near Estes Park. In the past we've held it at the old Covenant Bible College in Windsor, CO, which has way less fun things to do and is in the middle of suburbs. But for some reason, our students thought it was the greatest place in the world. Like C.S. Lewis said, they'll be satisfied playing in the mud because they don't believe there's something better out there.

We got them out of the mud this year for sure. Not only is the camp actually in the mountains, but they have way cool things we got to do. And this is where my fear of heights came into play. First we did the zip line, which isn't bad because I've done a lot of them before.

Next was Gut Check. Great name. So first you sit on this ledge, which I have to say made me feel a lot better than standing.


Then they just push you off.

One of the girls working there said to me after I went, "I don't think I've ever heard someone scream before they were actually off the ledge." Yeah, well, I'm a sissy when it comes to falling off tall objects. And the scariest part of Gut Check was that you sort-of bounced in the air on the rope (like bungee jumping I guess), so there were moments when I just felt like I was floating/falling. Terrifying.

The scariest moment came the next day though.

We moved on to the Leap of Faith, where two people stand on that platform up there (that's Kayanne with me, she's rad), and then leap for this trapeze. Now I kind-of waited until the end and thought I could just not do this one and no one would notice. But of course, everyone told me I had to do it. So Kayanne volunteered to go again as my buddy. Just climbing up to the platform was scary enough.

But then came time to jump. This is my biggest fear. They have one of these things at Crooked Creek that I did my senior year of high school and I think I practically cried. So Kayanne jumped first. I knew there was no chance I was jumping for a trapeze, so now I just had to get off that platform somehow. So how did I do it?

I closed my eyes and pretended I was jumping into a pool. I believe I said something like, "I love the pool!" and went for it. Now we need a close-up of those faces.

There it is. Classic. I honestly think I am saying the word "pool" in this picture. So there was only one event of terror left.

The Silencer. Let me tell you, I was anything but silent. On this exciting event a team of people pulls a rope to elevate you to maybe like 60 or 70 feet in the air, which is about where I am in that first photo at the top. And then, guess what? You release...

Now I must say, while I did scream all the way up, and all the way down, and then some more after that, this one was awesome. Because not only do you get to feel like you're flying for a few minutes, you have this incredible view in the background. Sweetness.

Fall Retreat did include a few other things besides swinging on ropes. We had some great worship services feature the Senior Pastor Dave Sherrer as our speaker, some great times of talking about life and God and dogs and any other tangent you can think of, and of course, Date Night.

Date Night is a High Point Fall Retreat tradition, and one of my favorite moments of the year. We put all the girls' names in a hat and each boy picks one (or in this year's case, some pick two). Then they have to go knock on the door of the girl cabin, ask for their date, and walk with arms linked to dinner. Oh not to mention, they all must have a photo.

Oh Sophie. She's growing up so fast. Anyway, watching the students go on imaginary dates for ten minutes is more entertaining that I would have thought.

So that was Fall Retreat '08. It's one for the books. Whatever that means.

And then, as we said we would, Sophie and I, along with Steph, went to see at 10:10pm show of High School Musical 3 about an hour after we returned from Fall Retreat. As for my review of the movie...it was awesomely ridiculous. I can't help it, I just love these movies. And the soundtracks.

I think there's also sentimental value there. I still remember the fall of '05 when Dani and I watched the Disney Channel all the time, and they started showing previews for the first High School Musical. We were pumped. But then it came out in January while I was in New Orleans without TV (besides watching SNL DVDs constantly). I still remember my KU people coming down in March and Jen and Dani introducing me to the soundtrack. And I remember watching the VHS tape that my roommates taped for me when I returned in April that was missing the first scene and song of the movie. And I remember how much Emily loved the slow version What I Been Looking For. And I remember how I watched it over and over again.

And I remember how Emily and I took two guys we barely knew on a double date that ended with watching that movie. It also included a visit to Quick Trip and the batting cages--best date ever in my opinion.

So, I think that's why I love it. It's cheesy and hilarious and reminds me of my love for my Kansas boos.

Well it's late, and I still never got around to discussing the glory of that Nike commercial. I just keep watching it over and over again.

Oh wait, one last story. So, claim to fame, my brother used to play baseball against Ryan Howard.

You may recognize him from winning the World Series this year. Anyway, the dude graduated from Lafayette High School (same conference as Kirkwood) in St. Louis in 1998, the same year as my baseball-playing brother (also named Ryan and almost as good). So here's a little story from when my brother, as well as Mark, played against Ryan Howard (World Series champion) in freshmen baseball:

I played against Howard all through high school (including American Legion). You should ask Mark (I don’t know if he remembers, but he should) about the home run that Howard hit against us freshman year. We were playing at Lafayette on their secondary field, which had no fence in right field. Tim Miller hung a curve ball to him that Ryan blasted as far as I had ever seen a ball hit at that point in my career. Tim Adams was playing right field and had to chase this ball down which just kept rolling. Hilarity all around. The best part was how much crap we game Tim Miller afterwards. And he kept getting so mad at us and blaming Havener for calling a curve ball.

Gar-man will probably appreciate that story the most. Sorry for all the Kirkwood names for those of you not privileged enough to have been raised in that great town.

Ryan Howard may have won the World Series, but Ryan Tate is dominating on his Seattle rec-league softball team. They even have a web site, but I forgot what it is, so you'll have to check back later for that.