Thursday 10 p.m.- This is the last night of the trip and I knew it was going to go by fast. And it has. I have to say this has been one good team. We had our final dinner at Rickey's in Bay St. Louis. Miss Louise actually came with us so that made the evening even more special. This was a pretty impressive restaurant. They actually moved into a location in a strip mall from their old location which was forced by the hurricane. The walls are paintings of sea life, especially blue marlin and as you might expect there was plenty of seafood on the menu. All those cool appetizers like fried alligator, crab fingers, and New Orleans BBQ shrimp. I had pasta with gulf shrimp (and they gave me plenty of it for 3 bucks extra) artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, roasted peppers, and parmesan. Excellent, but really filling. I wish I could have seen that dessert menu! We hurried home to get some sleep for the long drive ahead.
Friday 11 a.m.- On the road north of Jackson, MS a little west of Tupelo. We actually drove through Star, which is where Faith Hill came from. But let me tell you a story from last night. We had 8 guys sleeping in the cabin but two more came in last night without us knowing. They are down here because they are leading groups that will be coming into Camp Coastal next week and they wanted to get a feel for the place and the projects. We didn't know they would be staying in our cabin. So four of us were leaving that morning which meant we did as much packing as we could so we could get out of there as quickly as possible. So we're all sleeping and I hear this two loud beeps. I smelled some heat and I figured it was a smoke detector. Then I guessed it was the alarm clock going off. A few of us started getting our things together when I hear Eric's voice saying "Guys, it's only 1 a.m."
To make matters worse, those beeps stunned me so much I sprang up in my bottom bunk and hit my head right the bottom of the top bunk. Solid wood. No blood came out, but I have a nice big red scar on the top of my forehead. If I shaved the top of my head, I would look like Gorbechav.
The beeps were from this guy's laptop computer which he brought with him and didn't turn off. Another thing I didn't know was he slept in the bunk right above mine which had been empty all week. I had my clothes towel, bathroom bag and everything for the next morning all organized. So when I woke up, I started feeling around on the bed for myself. You can see where this is going. Instead of my t-shirt, cutoffs, I felt a food and then an arm. So we finally just turned the lights on, loaded the van, and left Camp Coastal at 5:02 a.m. And we got into South Barrington at 10:16 p.m.
Now I'm back home and I'll just say a few more things. It wasn't always an easy trip. I wrestled with what my contribution to my own team was. I was scared I would say or do something really wrong and I would just be forgotten about. It's happened before. I think they think pretty well of me, at least I hope they do. I hope some friendships come out of this.
And I was scared to talk to some of the locals because I didn't know what to say. I just didn't want to say the wrong thing.
The week was certainly worth it. I've got a few scratches and scrapes and nearly got fried, but that doesn't matter. It was good to get away and do something different. It is true that humbling yourself and serving others can make you feel better about yourself. And helping these people was a good thing to do. I'm glad I contributed. But I hope I can carry this with me as I go to Ecclesia tonight and then tackle work this week.
That's all folks. Hope you enjoyed the ride.
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