Nice Hat (#4)

Last summer I worked at a summer camp, doing basically everything. I lifeguarded, cooked, cleaned, helped with the zipline, and did any other random task assigned to me. Because of this I got to be everywhere. One day a kid even called me “the girl from everywhere” after I was at the paddle boat station when he went boating, I helped him harness at the zipline, and I watched him swim while lifeguarding. Being everywhere I started to notice certain kids. One camp came through and I noticed that this one guy always wore this awesome hat everywhere he went. I had a great prank idea, and soon got all my friends in on it. It was to complement him on his hat anywhere we happened to run into him.

For the sake of simplifying things I am going to call the guy with the hat “John” for the rest of this story. When it was time for lunch, John came into the cafeteria with the flood of other kids coming in, but he clearly stood out because of his neon, orange, flat billed, and indescribably, awesome, hat. The kids all filed into lines to come get food. I just so happened to be working in the cafeteria so when John grabbed his plate, I said “nice hat!” he said “thanks!” That same meal I got multiple members of the staff to complement him on his hat. He was a bit confused. I think the first 2 or 3 times, he thought people just happened to like his hat, but when it continued he didn’t know what was going on. Throughout the week I complemented him on his hat every single time I saw him, which was pretty frequently. Other people did two but I outdid them all probably mentioning his hat 3 or 4 times a day. He began to predict that I would complement his hat and I saw him pointing at me and talking to some friends. When he came though the line and got his food, along with a complement from me, his friends snickered.

On one of the last days of camp as I was sitting under a tree relaxing, I noticed that John and a group of his friends were coming towards me. “Oh No” I thought, “This is gonna be funny.” They all walked up and John desperately and impatiently asked “What is wrong with my hat?!” I replied “Nothing, I genuinely like your hat! I just noticed it, and told my friends to complement you on it. I thought it would be funny.” John seemed relieved and like he thought that was pretty funny.

It is so much fun to goof off with people you don’t know well, and be as crazy as you like. Maybe that’s why summer camp is so awesome! For more stories about me and people I know check my blog every day for a new story.

A Man of Principle (story #3)

When my Grandpa Wilson was only 5, a friend of his offered to pay him a nickel to go beat up a cousin. My grandpa accepted, because in the early 50’s a nickel was a respectable coin, and could by a Coca-Cola or a candy bar. The 5 year-old trudged almost two miles and finally got to the house that contained his target. He knocked on the door and when the kid opened my grandpa said “I was payed a nickel to beat you up.” The kid who was probably about 7 but was a wimp and said, “I’ll pay you a dime, not to beat me up.” My grandpa thought a moment and then replied “No. I’m a man of my principle.” The kid, seeing that this approach wasn’t working, somehow found a way to talk my grandpa out of beating him up. My grandpa walked all the way back and gave his client’s nickel back. He was, and still is “a man of principle”.

I am writing a short true story every day. Check my blog tomorrow to read the next one.

My story about stories (1)

Today two people told me, I should start compiling stories. I love hearing stories, writing stories, telling stories, and mostly just noticing the funny little things in life. My goal is to post a short true story every day for the next year. They will not be long, maybe only a paragraph, but they will be true, and remind you of life. I have been thinking about this idea for a while, so I decided to go for it. At some point, I hope to write novels about realistic people. Charles Dickens is my hero, because he wrote about realistic people.

Story (1)

When I was 10 or so, I went over to my aunts house with some of my siblings for the day, while my mom and dad were out doing things. We were playing outside, and picking flowers. Our mom had recently taught us how to suck nectar out of Henbit flowers and we discovered that the type in my aunt’s yard were Henbit. My siblings and I all began eagerly sucking. We soon noticed a HUGE patch of flowers and to our delight found them full of nectar. As we were sucking the stuff down, our aunt said, “Those are the flowers that grow over the septic tank.” We asked what that was, and she told us it was the place, where people’s poo went. We were horrified and spit the flowers out.

“Old Couch” Shoes (story #2)

I am so happy, my family is going to an awesome church right now, and last Wednesday, we visited the youth group for the first time. I already have a couple friends and acquaintances there, and was excited to get to know some of them a little better. That night I was sporting my favorite Yellow Van’s off the Wall tennis shoes. They are absolutely the best tennis shoes ever. The picture above does not capture their full glory, but whatever, you must simply imagine how awesome my shoes are. Anyways, I was talking to this guy and he looked at my shoes and said these exact words “I like your shoes. They look like an old couch.” I was impressed. That dude has some serious complementing skills. That may sound sarcastic of me, but I was genuinely impressed by his metaphor, and thanked him vigorously. A friend of mine standing nearby said “what a complement” and I laughed. But seriously old couches are comfortable and kind of cool. Also the guy was being serious. He did like my shoes. I want to fallow in the footsteps of greatness, and complement like him.