Tale #2: That’s just one too many.

Every summer we work with over 100 kids throughout our various summer camps. Every year there is always that one kid that never ceases to surprise you, and The Music Man KIDS camp had a doosy of an example with one student who for these purposes we’ll call F.

This ten-year-old showed up to his first day of camp wearing red basketball shorts and forest green rain boots. He was good friends with the young man that ended up playing the role of Harold Hill. Every day, he had to remind every camp staff member that they were best friends.

One rehearsal, the lead forgot his script. We were working on the train scene (you know “Cash for the merchandise, cash for the button hooks” etc) and young Harold forgot his line. F got up from his bench, walked into the theater seats to a different kid’s backpack, and pulled that kid’s script out to give to his friend. The kid rightly stated “dude that’s my bag and my script” to which F yelled in his face “but my best friend needs it!”.

The 30-minute show started with our split track curtain closed. We were all prepared to start our dress rehearsal when F popped his head through the curtain and said his magic phrase “I have a question”. Our director just said “no no no no” as he pointed his finger to say get back behind the curtain. F kept trying to speak but was met with the same “no no no no no”.

F was a very sensitive young man. He wanted nothing more than to make friends, but was also very confident in following the beat of his own drum. One day, he had been surrounded by a group of kids and they were all chatting excitedly. A few minutes later, the kids had left and F was standing in tears. My mom approached him and asked what had happened that made him so upset. He looked her square in the face and said, “everyone is laughing at me because I told them I have 11 toes.”

FYI: It is really really really really hard not to laugh in moments like these.

I have never seen my mom spin a situation more positively than I witnessed in this moment. She crouched down to F and said, “What! 11 toes?! That’s super cool! That makes you super unique.”

Working with thousands of kids in my lifetime has taught me that every kid truly is special and unique. Just maybe not always in the way parents want or expect. To this day we still reminisce about the essence that was F, whether or not he still has all eleven toes, and all the moments with him that made us think, “what the…?”