This one time at Gallagosen camp...

We got their around 10pm to a melting pot of employees. New Zealand, Australia, England – I’d later hear South Africa and Armenia among others. Down the hill to the Boat House is where the party was at. The Boat House sat to the right of the lake just past the basketball and volleyball courts. I stepped up on the deck and immediately saw Seth and we exchanged hugs. Next up was Bones’ good friend Angie and a girl I’ve never seen before who started rubbing my head right away. She’d eventually say, “I have a thing for shaved heads. My husband has one.” Well that went from comfortable to uncomfortable pretty fast.

I finally made my way to the doors and what a scene I walked into. Where to begin? In my mind I’d just walked into the next scene of a movie - a scene where the main character is outside of a club and it’s relatively quiet except for the mumblings of the crowd waiting in line and the occasional sounds dripping out of the door when someone leaves. The next scene cuts to the character walking into the club and…

the music was blasting, the disco ball was shining in my eyes and pockets of conversations were everywhere. The cathedral ceiling looked endless. It added to the echoing sounds of madness multiplying with every step I took. The DJ was in a booth above the bar directly to my right. A door was suspended in the air only accessible by the camouflaged ladder nailed to the wall on the side of it. I’d see Kevin becoming very comfortable going up and down this ladder in various states of drunkenness.

Roommate was the first person I ran into. After some quick hellos he asked me if I wanted to play some beer pong. I had arrived. Not 10 minutes into the night and I was already setting up a pyramid on the beer pong table with Sproose excited about getting drunk. “You need to catch up” I’d hear as the hellos kept flowing. Kevin, Tink, Ableson, Shuman, Jimmy, KTB, Wilcox, Gil, Tina and we were getting beat pretty badly by Roommie and Bones. Karen, Missy, MarkyMark, Amy, Andy and we made a great come back down only 3 cups to 1. Lani, Julia, Kristina, Craemer and we’d lost but the race was on.

The rest of the night was filled with roars of laughter only a pride could relate to. Who knew twenty four hours later the Boat House floor would be covered in ping pong balls?

Saturday was activity day from water skiing to wall climbing to bungee trampoline-ing. We played ball, we raced, and I almost threw up in the lake. Go White Homies! Can the guy who was our kayak leg of the race and decided it was okay to quit please report to the office? You have a gallon of pudding to eat and must spend a week on the Celebrity Fit Club where you’ll be forced to room with Ant, the show’s overzealous host.

The day was perfect. The food, to my surprise, was fantastic. The reception was Lot Jam worthy. I could go on for pages about the weekend but the one thing that stood out for me was that Bones and Lani were having a blast. Simple right? Maybe, but it was obvious how much effort went into putting this weekend together. There were so many more details to plan than a typical wedding where people rent a hotel room and show up at the reception. They could’ve folded but instead they were chasing Big Foot around until 4am.

Often times you’ll leave with a gift from a wedding. Some folks have chocolates or picture frames. Others want you to take the flowers and vase. While there were plenty of parting gifts from Camp Gallagosen, the gift they gave me was an experience. An experience combined with the love and kindness that brought us all together in the first place. Bones and Lani managed to make their wedding about everyone else instead of themselves. It’s a special quality for a great couple. Congratulations Gallagosens and thanks for letting me share in your awesome day!