# Re: Best shared moment/memory?

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Posted by kev on March 25, 2020 at 03:42:13

In Reply to: Best shared moment/memory? posted by Mattchreck on March 17, 2020 at 09:03:32:

Cool topic, good thinking posting this right now. I've posted this story here before and its not as good as some of the other one's people have posted. But here's mine: when I was in high school I worked as a summer camp counselor. It was basically just baby sitting for kids while their parents had to work while school was out. It wasn't really organized. Camp was at a big park in town, and basically we had a big equipment room full of stuff for sports, games, crafts, etc, and each day we'd basically just do whatever the counselors and kids wanted to do that day. There mostly wasn't anything in particular planned, we'd just kind of wing it. It honestly wasn't a very fun job (basically just babysitting), but it paid super well, so I stuck with it.

Off in the corner of the park there was a dunk tank, and I figured it was just being stored there and didn't have anything to do with the camp. One day the group I was supervising was over by that area, and one of the kids asked "so when do we get to dunk you in the dunk tank?" I said that I wasn't sure what the deal was, so I asked one of the counselors who had worked there a few years what the dunk tank was going to be used for. She shrugged and said if any of the counselors wanted to set it up we could go right ahead. The kids were excited to hear that so we went over to take a closer look. The tank was empty and the target parts were all folded up. I went to get the target attached properly and noticed we were missing pieces to attach the target to the seat contraption. One of the other counselors said they keep that locked up in the equipment room so that the kids wouldn't try to play with the dunk tank unsupervised. Eventually I found the missing pieces and determined we had a functional dunk tank. It was, however, completely empty, and it was pretty close to the end of the day, and I knew it would take a few hours to fill. So I told the kids that tomorrow morning I'd start filling the tank first thing in the morning, and then if everyone was on their best behavior, I'd go in the dunk tank after lunch and they could dunk me. They groaned a bit but seemed to accept my terms. I mentioned to the other counselors that I was going to setup the dunk tank tomorrow. I don't think I really specifically asked anyone to take a turn getting dunked, I was totally prepared to be the only one to do it, but figured if anyone else wanted to, or at least was willing to, I'd at least let them know so they could bring extra clothes if they wanted. I remember I did ask one kid who I became friends with, Pete, if he'd help run it with me, and he said sure, he'd help. I did ask him if that meant he'd go IN the dunk tank, and he gave me a weird uncomfortable look and said, "maybe, I'll think about it." I was a little surprised because his personality struck me as the type who'd think it would be fun to be in a dunk tank, but I didn't press the matter with him at all.

The next day I showed up with a change of clothes and a towel, and started filling the dunk tank as soon as I got there early in the morning. By lunch time the tank was completely full and the kids were starting to get excited about it. After lunch I headed over towards the dunk tank and noticed that the entire camp was following me. Usually we split up into small groups where each counselor had 10 or so kids, but now everyone was heading over to the dunk tank. I'd been in a dunk tank a couple times before so I knew what I was getting myself into, and I was a little nervous if they thought I'd sit up there while all 100+ kids took turns trying to dunk tank - that would have a been a really long afternoon! But I didn't have too much time to ponder, so I climbed up on the seat and just kind of let the other counselors handle getting the kids lined up and tennis balls handed out and everything. Surprisingly the first kid dunked me on his first try, so it was only a few seconds before I was completely soaked.

So maybe about 10 minutes into it, I notice some of the other counselors had started taking off their shoes and emptying their pockets. I happily let the next counselor take a turn, and stood dripping on the white concrete pad the dunk tank was sitting on, enjoying the moment. It was just about perfect - the water was cool and refreshing without being too cold, the weather was comfortably warm without being too hot, and everyone was smiling and happy without any of the drama and stuff that goes along with 100 kids being supervised by highschool students. Even my friend Pete ended up taking a turn - afterwards I mentioned that at first he didn't seem like he was OK with going in, but he said he was just nervous because he'd never been in a dunk tank before, but he saw it looked fun so he went ahead and tried it. In total I think we had 15 or so counselors who worked there, and probably at least 7 or 8 of them took a turn in the dunk tank. Most of them had brought a change of clothes, but a couple didn't and finished off the day in their soaking wet uniforms. Our "uniforms" were just red polos and tan cargo shorts, so that's what everyone was wearing.

We ended up doing the dunk tank usually once each week for the rest of the summer. I ended up going in it each time, along with most of the other counselors, but a few only did it once or twice and then decided that was enough for them.

I wanted to tell this story because a bunch of us ended up going in the dunk tank, and it didn't involve me needing to feel awkward or needing to try to convince people to go in it - it just kind of happened, and felt a lot more relaxing and enjoyable than other scenarios where I'd feel awkward about being the only one there getting wet in my clothes.

Follow Ups:

- Re: Best shared moment/memory? kmf 23:56:41 3/26/2020 (2)
  - Re: Best shared moment/memory? kev 03:22:45 3/28/2020 (0)
  - Re: Best shared moment/memory? 74KA 01:26:18 3/27/2020 (0)

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