Laughter is Good Medicine

Friday night was one of funniest and laughter-filled nights we've ever had at Mammoth. I haven't laughed that hard in, well, I don't know how long.

The last night of our Mammoth Camp is high on tradition. We celebrate the hard work and good times of the camp by staging a "condo desert contest" where each condo is charged with coming up with an original creation (nothing out of a box) to be judged by eminent taste-testers. There are no prizes given out except for pride, but by the way each condo goes about coming up with something spectacular (or, in the case of the guys' condos, just really good arguments for why their concoction should win), you'd think a golden statue was awaiting the victorious recipe.

I have to say that the girls' condos truly outdid themselves with two really impressive creations, one based on the camp theme, and the other a realistic looking oversized hamburger and fries, all made with delectable, sugary sweetnesses.




The boys, well, let's just say that's where a Night at the Improv broke out. Chris Miller's instructions to not touch one side of their cake "unless you like cajun chocolate" had everyone doubled over and Sean Lee's lawyerly "explanation" (read: "rationalization") of their mint cake made from well, butter, and more butter ... and even more butter, was equally hilarious. I about lost it when Coach Griesinger, the official judge, pointed to the third boys' creation and after a couple of pained bites, a swallow of water to get it down, deadpanned, "that's just horrible."




The Friday tradition continues with gift giving, encouragement to one another and our senior talks which were complete with heartfelt exhortations to the younger teammates and heart-tugging memories of good times and bad.

But the evening is capped off with the "Friday Follies" in which each condo presents some kind of skit or dance routine, usually in hillarious fashion. This year was no different, and when a group of girls decided to spoof Sean Lee's dance routines from each of the last three summers, it brought the house down. Sean claimed it was a "tribute" and he may be right. No one has busted a move like Sean in the last three years and the group of 7 girls got it exactly right.

They say laughter is good medicine, and after nearly peeing my pants Friday night in raucous laughter, I'm good to go!

What a great time it was!