TLC Annual Thanksgiving Blog

TLC is built on Joy.  And serving others. Steve used to say true joy comes from serving others.

But Joy is not the absence of pain, it is acknowledging suffering and saying I can move forward with the help and love of those around me.

It is being able to see a broken world and the brokenness in ourselves and acknowledge that we may not be able to change everything, but we can change something.

It is being able to see someone who is on the outside looking in who has not had a chance to be themselves in this world, and say I'll give you the chance, because someone gave me the chance.

Joy is saying someone's name who may be having a tough day and seeing their eyes light up and they say “You know my name? There are 100 people here.  How did you know my name?”

It is making mistakes, asking for forgiveness from each other, and being forgiven.

JOY is GVS. It is ice cream in the caf.  It is the pro wrestling flying pile driver by Joao on Derbs, and Alli the Skull Crusher coming away with the world championship belt while Peter the horse wanders around looking lost in a skit on the first night of camp, when every new camper says “What have I gotten myself into?”

It is the campers who come in and trust us with their lives and sing their guts out on the TLC songs and come back and tell their friends it's OK, it's OK, you can still be cool and sing TLC songs, and even if you can't, it's way more fun when you do.

It is Karen Gibbs inspiring Steve Wilkinson to start this camp not out of happiness but out of tragedy and seeing what can come from that.

It is Dave Aasen saying the grass is green the sky is blue it's a great day to be alive, even when the grass is brown, the sky is gray, and you don't know which way you're going to go next.

It is Carl Walz saying I am going to be a TLC Instructor someday, and then starting a tennis revolution in his little town of Aitkin as an 8^th grader, and when he passed away before his TLC chance could come true, seeing Joe & Cindy, his parents, take up the mantle on that dream and create out of the one of the poorest counties in Minnesota a magic land of tennis that Carl envisioned, and sending countless campers to TLC on scholarships.

It is every instructor who has ever sweated every drop of sweat that they have in their body and keep going for the campers because “This camper deserves as much energy and love as the first camper of the summer.”

It's reflecting on the person next to you and putting yourself into their shoes and asking what is it that they're scared about in life and how can I help alleviate that.

It's about learning that you can play terribly, you can lose badly, and you can still play with joy, and you can still look beyond yourself and cheer on your teammates. You can still compliment your opponents because they are going through the same things you are in life, so make it a little easier for them, too.

It's about taking the Three Crowns℠ out in the world unashamedly and saying hey, let's do this.

It’s the Thank You Bowl, it’s the Gratitude Minute, it’s the Serenity Prayer as a guide for what we can control and what we cannot.

It’s about having 13 different countries represented on staff, women and men in leadership, a mashup of straight and LGBTQ+, religions and no religions, races, economic backgrounds, so when campers and staff arrive, they can say “I see myself here.  I belong here.”  And when we leave, each one of us can say “I belong everywhere and no one can take that from me.”

This camp was built on joy but not happiness.  And that's where people get it wrong.  Joy is not based on whatever emotion comes our way or on the circumstances of our lives, it is deeper than that, it is built on actions of service.

One of the most beautiful letters we have ever received at TLC, was the following (used by permission):

When I picked my daughter up from camp and packed her stuff into the truck, we started our journey home.  We just got out of the campus area and she said to me, “I think I found the college I want to attend, and I want to play tennis there, too.”  I said back, “That is a nice college, my sisters (your aunties) went to Gustavus in the 1980s.”  I continued, “but I think it is quite a bit more expensive today that it was back then.”  Her response was, “Well, then you better start saving!”

Not much past the city limits of St. Peter, I asked her what she learned from the “tennis” portion of camp.  “I learned to serve better, and how to position my forefinger on my forehand to control the direction of the ball better.”

I then asked what she learned from the “life” portion of camp. She paused for a bit, took a breath, turned her head to me and said: “Dad, I learned that I can’t control everything, and that I have to let go of what I can’t control, and work on what I can do to keep moving forward.”  I started to cry.  She asked me not too… I said that was worth every penny.

Here is the reason why….  My daughter’s mom, my wife, has been in a nursing home for the past two years with a disease called MS-Dementia.  I have been raising two young girls by myself since then and for four years prior to that taking care of both my wife and daughters at home when I quit my job to do so.  I emptied everything and started a business from home so I could take care of everyone.  It was not easy, but I kept telling them (the girls), that it will get better someday…. There is something out there for you…you just have to find it!  Their mother (my wife) has less than two weeks to live, they are telling me.  Two days ago we went and said goodbye to her while she was sleeping, so it was peaceful for all of us.

Your camp changed my daughter’s outlook on life.  We have been dealt a not so good hand, and I try to stay positive, but sometimes the rollercoaster of a ride can be a lot.  We are all in a good frame of mind with our situation now, and you helped my oldest with what she was struggling with internally.  I am forever grateful.”

This is why we are here.  This is why we will be here in 50 years.

Happy Thanksgiving.  Or better yet, Joyful Thanksgiving.

Let Love Serve.