Beau and I began dating the summer of 1996, but our saga began the summer of 1995. I had been on Work Crew at Singing Hills and Beau had been a Cook at Echo Valley. A group of my best friends had been on his Work Crew, and apparently there had been a lot of hype about our first meeting at Frog’s house for Work Crew Appreciation. We briefly met, but it did not make much of an impression on either of us, much to the dismay of my friends. The next summer we were both at Echo Valley; Beau was a cook and I was a CIT. Since Beau had become good friends with my best friends, it was only natural that Beau and I also became friends. As we all know, LLYC is a different environment and relationships can quickly develop as did ours. By the end of my four weeks, we were hooked!
LLYC is one place where you can be yourself and all the stereotypes disappear. This is where our foundation began. When you are at camp, there are no cliques or barriers and you are free to be 100% yourself. I can remember many nights staying up and just talking and talking. We were able to talk about anything and everything and that is still true today. You see, our foundation was created in a beautiful environment that was created by God.
We feel so lucky and blessed that our first dates were at Round-Up and dances at Pebble Beach. God was able to show us that he was the rock that we needed to build our relationship on. He is where our focus needed to be.Now, Laity Lodge Family Camp continues to be the safe place for our family. We go each summer and know that our priorities will be re-set on the right goals for our family. This is what life is about. We need to love and support one another and keep the focus on God. We can become so wrapped up in our daily lives that we forget to put God and our spouses first. The Laity Lodge of the past gave us an amazing beginning, but the Laity Lodge of the present nourishes our souls and leads us to become better Christians, spouses and parents.
We often hope and pray for our children that they can have similar experiences at LLYC, where they can grow up into adulthood in such a wondrous and awe-inspiring environment.
