Every summer we take the youth on camping trips to a variety of locations. During these trips youth and staff can be exposed to extreme wilderness elements which the staff are trained to handle. I remember one trip with a youth who was just a little gaffer at the time. On a canoe trip up north we got lost and it was just me, him and two other female youth. We had portaged a canoe through a rapids area and got separated when the rest of the youth and staff in our group went a different route.

So we finally get back into the canoes, the two girls in one and me and this little guy in the other, and we are  trying to navigate through these reeds that are six feet higher than the canoe. I can’t even see the other canoe or where we were going. The girls in the other canoe are complaining and getting worried.

I’m starting to get pretty stressed out, trying to keep everyone calm while reading a topical map when the youth with me starts grabbing the reeds and singing ‘Well, who are you? Who are you? Who, who, who, who? I really wanna know’ from the Who and says it’s just like the start of CSI Miami.

I busted out laughing and so did the girls in the other canoe. In a very stressful situation it really lightened the mood. When I think of it today it still makes me smile.