Written by Sam-Sam

Hey, all! It’s Sam.

A couple weeks ago, on my way back to class from band, I was pulled into the guidance counselor’s office by Mrs. Bryant. When we sat down, she immediately jumped into business, asking me what I would think of being in a program for eighth graders from all three of the middle schools in Germantown (Houston Middle, Riverdale, and Germantown Middle). I told her that I was absolutely interested, at which point I was asked if I had anyone I felt would enjoy the MOVERS program. After a few minutes of thinking, I decided that my friend John William Selberg would like it the most of all of my friends, and he also joined the program.

Last week, on Wednesday, February the 13th, the MOVERS introductory meeting was held in the Great Hall of the Germantown Athletic Center. Mom, Dad, and I all went, anxious to learn more about what I would be doing for the seven gatherings between Saturday and May 8th, when we have our graduation.

Saturday, we went to Parkwood Behavioral Health Hospital in Olive Branch, Mississippi to partake in a ropes course. After playing a few games (Name Game; Blob Tag; Giants, Wizards, and Elves; and Knotted Circle), we moved from a field to the woods. After going over safety rules, we began trying to make our way along the Mohawk Rope, which was a series of several 1-inch wires attached to trees about one foot off the ground. We tried several different strategies for an hour, but still had no luck getting across the wire. Finally, one girl made it far enough to where she could reach the long rope tethered to a tree to sections away from the first one. When that got around, two guys (Ryan and Josh) started holding the rope to help other people balance as they went across the wire. It took about forty minutes more until everyone made it to the next section, but after that, we were moving fairly quickly through the other three sections. By that time, it was noon, so we went into the hospital to have sub sandwiches for lunch.

At about 12:30, lunch was finished. We made our way back to the woods, leaving our cell phones in a box in a locked shed. This time, we were further into the woods, and when we looked up between three trees, there were a total of four wires just like the ones we had been on an hour before. Two of them had pulley-like circles up about six or seven feet above their respective lower ropes. Justin, our Aussie instructor (with a really hot accent ;-) ) tied thick, brightly colored ropes onto the threads that were hanging from the pulleys until the ropes were fully through to where they could be attached to harnesses. Then, he set his assistant up, tying her harness to a tree, because she was the other “belayer”. After three other teams had gone, it was time for my partner Malaysia and I to go up. Malaysia got to the top of the ladder, but decided it was too high for her taste, and scurried back down the ladder, happy to be back on solid ground. Another girl took her place, so I could still go up. About five minutes later, I was making my way fifteen feet up the tree to where the 1-inch wire was waiting for me to climb aboard. And within seconds, I was standing straight and tall on the wire, holding on to a staple in the tree and my partner’s hand. We slowly started moving away from the tree, but had to go back about two or three times, because I was shaking. Then, on our last try, we made it half way across the lines, and we could hardly hold hands and lean in towards each other any more because we both had short arms, and the V in the wires were spreading farther than we could reach. After standing still like that for a couple seconds, Mr. George, one of the sponsors, called up, “Sam, look at how far you’ve gone! You’re doing great!” And that, of course, caused me to look back at the other tree, that I was now almost ten feet away from, and I let out one of my earsplitting screams. I started shaking even more, and I told my partner that my feet were slipping. And with that, we let go of each other, and she was halfway to the ground before I would let go of the wire I had grabbed onto after slipping. I think that part of why she was so good at it, was because she had been part of the first group to go up, so she’d had the experience. But, finally, after hanging there for a few seconds, I let go, falling gently down the fifteen feet from the treetops.

This ropes course was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and though I was scared nearly to death, I would absolutely do it all again. Because of this MOVERS program, I have made several new friends, and plan on making even more over the next few months.

Anyways, I’ll talk to y’all later!

~Sam