Just a reflection as I pass my 800 days .....
In the summer of 2017, I took over as the "Lay Advisor" for
Order of the Arrow Lodge #57. For those not in scouting, the OA can be a little hard to explain, but in a VERY basic sense, it is a sub-group within the Boy Scouts of America Scouting program, and each lodge covers the entire scout council. This basically means I am now the Scoutmaster for some 2,000 boys across South Western PA / Maryland. It is a big task, and I am honored to have been asked. It is also an amazingly rewarding task.
So why do I bring all that up now... This last weekend was the Section Conclave (a gathering of the 4 OA lodges in our region, which covers ALL of western PA.) It is one of the biggest events a lodge will plan for, and our Lodge was the host lodge this year (i.e. it was held at our camp). So I have spent every weekend for the last 6 weekends at camp, working with an AMAZING group of young leaders ( 21 yrs old) and advisors ( 21 yrs old) to help pull off this giant task. In between these weekends I still had my regular job which includes working for a school - so we are are Graduation season :-D.
All this running around, all this crazy scheduling, etc -- I can remember thinking "Boy I really want a dip" once!!!! I went for those tools, I made my promise, and I kept myself clean. I was able to post a +1 the next day. I may have only had a single craving over this time, but I can't count the number of times it passed my mind that I was NOT hiding one in the lip, or that that I did not have to run off for 30 mins to "enjoy" a dip away from these young leaders. The fact that I was able to enjoy
each and every second of the past 40+days was such an amazing thing.
I may not have been a perfect 100% poster during this time (I know I missed a number of days due to the camping wknds) -- I may not have been able to do a lot of discussion on the board over this time -- But I definitely thought of KTC over this time!! The friends I have made, the people I have meet, and those that I have yet to meet, you all have helped me reach my 800 days.... My gratitude runs over -- Thank you to each of you and to KTC!