13

I know 13 is associated as an unlucky number, but my 13th year was the luckiest.

A ropes course, a river, and a kid who got lucky.

The summer of 2001 changed my life.

I was freshly adopted, still finding my footing in a new home with four younger brothers. Thanks to a scholarship and a few youth group car washes, I found myself at a summer camp on the Brazos River in Cleburne, Texas — standing on a high ropes course platform, looking down.

My body was tingling. My brain was calculating fall risk. I was uneasy.

But somewhere in that moment, I realized something I'll never forget: this fear was different. It wasn’t figuring out how to get the water and power back on. It wasn't hunger. It wasn't uncertainty about where I'd sleep.

It was chosen thrill — and I was lucky enough to be there to feel it.

That platform is where The Summer Camp Project was born, even if I didn't know it yet.