Best Week Ever. Part 2.

Things you would have told me 10 years ago I’d be doing and I wouldn’t have believed: Chaperoning six teenagers on an overseas trip for eight days and having one of the best times of my life in the process.

But it happened.

You see, this summer I decided to be real nice and I took these goobers with me to Jamaica.

I was in charge of them and getting them to and from Jamaica safely and if that phrase puts fear in your heart, you are not alone, my friends.

I’ll be real honest. I didn’t know what to expect. Not that I thought anything would go wrong, or I’d have any problems, but I’ve always had someone there to ask how to handle something or to refer all questions to. But now I was the lone answerer of the questions. The keeper of the information. And medical release forms. And rules.

Luckily I took the best group of teenagers in the world with me and had no problems at all.

Watching this group experience what I had twice before was amazing for me. Watching them make new friends and learn about new cultures and try new foods and live without WiFi for hours at a time.. there were times I just sat there and smiled, glad that I could be a part of a week I know they won’t forget.

I didn’t always know that I wanted to work with teenagers, that I wanted to work with a youth group. But now I can’t really imagine not doing it.

And it doesn’t hurt that the youth I work with are the best ones on this planet, either.

I tease and call them my babies sometimes because I feel like i have to take care of all of them. And I got it right back on this trip, when they called me “Mom” at various times. But that’s fine. I did have a Mom Bag.

And later, when we got home and I watched them share their experiences with others and heard about what that week had meant to them, well yeah. I was Mom all over again. All proud of my little ones for who they are and what they’d done and the love they’d shown each other and our friends – new and old – in Jamaica.