things i miss about college: part 2

two words: SUMMER STAFF.

i could make this post VERY long, but i'll keep it short.

i was making dinner tonight after hearing back from a long lost SS friend, and realized that i will never get to do summer staff ever again. this breaks my heart. when else will I have an entire month with no responsibilities? college is great.

i can 't say i've ever formed closer bonds with any other group of people in such a quick time frame than i have with my friends from my first summer staff at castaway. each and every person there was so incredible. when we got home, one of the girls, lindsey, wrote to each of the girls to let them know what word described them to her and how that word personified Christ in us. intentional people like that make up the reasons why this group was so special.

at the end of our month together, our camp director said he'd never seen anything like our group before. that means a whole lot coming from ray donatucci, who is a camp director almost every year. yeah, we're something special :) 

i learned so much about community and loving and being vulnerable from my time on summer staff. for some reason, i feel like i was more myself than any other time.

this particular group, the castaway group, decided to have a reunion the december following our time together, and i think all but 5 people showed up. i mean, we had people from ALL over the country. that is love.

i've kept up with a handful of these friends on a regular basis, but i would love nothing more than to have another giant reunion. :) a mini-reunion might happen soon if i can pick a good weekend to drive up to chicago (there would be 6 of us together, it would be awesome!)

here are some pictures that make my heart want to burst because i love these people so much: enjoy

**the best part is some of these are actually from July '05, but they are from reunions in between up until recently :)