Recap of the Levy White Men’s Retreat

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[two_fourth class=”” last=”yes” ]The trip started off at Mama White’s house with a meeting time of 7:30 a.m. All the men and boys did a quick meet and greet then got ready to hit the road. Our first order of business was to put food in our bellies. In doing so, we stopped at Luby’s to get the all you can eat breakfast; special of course. At Luby’s, Harvey asked a simple question. “Who likes to cook”. All the suckers who raised their hands thinking, “ O yeah I can whip up an a la duck in no time” were now part of the food committee (more on these suckers later). At Luby’s our first icebreaker was done by Alan Swist. Alan asked all the men and boys to share one thing that no one knows about you. Our next stop was Wal-Mart to get final things for the trip and for the food committee suckers to go shop for lunch and dinner for everyone. Those on the food committee who thought about complaining nominated themselves on the wood committee as well. [/two_fourth]

Subsequent to Wal-Mart we headed to the cabin. We all thought we would be sleeping bare bones and bare minimum. To our surprise we saw a mansion in the middle of nowhere. We all thought this was our checking in point before heading to the cabin. Little did we know we were going to be staying on status. We met the owners of the house, Mr. and Mrs. Lee who were a humble and religious couple. They were very inviting and made us feel as if their home was our home. Everyone unpacked at this point and we all claimed beds.

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The first order of business was a quick football game to five (five touchdowns). Marcus White was the quarter back for one team and Mark Swist was the quarter back for the other team. On Mark’s team were Seth, Darion and Alan. On Marcus team was Big James, Corbin, and Dominic. Mark’s team got off to an early one nothing lead but Marcus’ team end up going up three to one. Mark’s team scored on the next possession as well as Marcus’s team which made the score 4 to 2. Coach Belicheck, I mean Mark Swist then decided to go into a zone instead of man to man to put the team in better position to win. The zone worked out perfectly and Marcus’ team was stopped three successful times. During those times, Mark’s team made a few adjustments on offense which also changed the way the game was going. Alan switched with Mark which made Mark Randy Moss. Seth made some key first down catches and Mark made a move on James Nokes for a touchdown. Once stopping Marcus team again Marcus decided Mark would score again so he decided to play defense on Mark. In doing so he hurt himself not long after (We are getting old). On the next play from scrimmage Mark Swist scored a touchdown that was originally batted by James Nokes. It was a 4:4 tie. Dead even. This may not be how everyone else remembers this but I clearly remember intercepting the next pass for a go ahead win. But for others they may believe that Darion grant got burned playing safety by Dominic White. You can believe whichever version you like.
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Next up Harvey gathered everyone for horse shoes. Little James, Corbin and Seth were captains and they picked their teams. Corbin’s team won the first game so they immediately earned the right to play Seth’s team. By some strange reason and by the grace of God, Corbin’s team beat Seth’s team in which I was a member of. It was Corbin’s lucky day. Matter of fact Corbin don’t you ever think that’ll happen again.

Next up was lunch. The food committee had to prepare lunch for everyone. Marcus White being the oldest sucker nominated himself as a delegator of the food committee. We had sandwiches, chips, and imaginary steaks. Christopher lead the next ice breaker in which he asked everyone to share what their dreams are. The answers to be left with the men and boys in attendance.[/two_third]
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Activities:

Next up we counted off into four teams and two teams played volleyball while two teams played horse shoes. My team was always the obvious favorite to win no matter the challenge. After a few rounds of horseshoes and volleyball the older guys ended up playing against the younger guys in volleyball. Since Marcus injured himself guarding me he was stuck playing horseshoes. This caused him to have to step his game up in horseshoes which he did. He immediately began roping almost everything he tossed. He beat Chris and by the grace of god beat mark as well. He also beat bubba. This caused his father ray Ephraim to step up to the challenge. Marcus won two games I believe and Ray ended up dethroning him. On the last and final game. Marcus white threw two ringers and ray threw a ringer on top of that so he had 15 points. He started with a 15:0 lead. The story has now been changed to it was a 29 lead going to 30. 29 nothing Ray Ephram. Some how some way the water rose and Marcus white stayed afloat. He came back and beat Ray Ephram 30:29.

On the volleyball court the young boys were spanking the older men. Older men was Terry, Bubba, Harvey, Paul and James. On the young men were Seth, Dominique, Corbin, Darion, and little James. In showoff fashion the young men beat the older guys and even took a knee. The older men decided to take off their braces and decided to run the game back. They were not to be disrespected. The older men won the next game by four points. Therefore there needed to be a tie-breaker. The older men ended up settling that score.[space]

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Obstacle Course

After a brief water break the next activity was the obstacle course. Harvey unsuccessfully split us into teams about 12 unsuccessful times. But once he figured it out and got it together on the 13th time. Team one was Mark Swist, Alan Swist, Ray Ephram, and Dominique White. Team two was Paul Stephens, Seth White, little James, and Darion grant. Team three was Terry white, Corbin Stephens, big James, and Christopher. The first Station had to hold a golf ball on a spoon and give your partner a high five once you reached their station. Station two was to run around the tree with a cup of water without spilling it. Station three was to touch the top of a monkey bar and do ten jumping jacks. Station four was to run around a maze made of rocks. In a strategic move I switched with Dominique with the maze and cup station because I saw Paul and Terry on the maze. I knew that would put us in the best position to win by figuring out the maze before running. Paul immediately figured out my strategy and tried to distract me from figuring out the maze. I knew Paul would be doing the same. Ray Ephram was in first place as he held the spoon and golf ball and tagged the next partner. Dominique immediately ran around the course with the cup and tagged Alan Swist first. Alan was first out of his jumping jacks and tagged Mark. I immediately began to run thinking I had this locked up. I came out like Usain Bolt. I figured that Paul Stephens would not try to catch me. To my surprise as I’m jogging around the course. I look back as paul is gaining ground heavily. At this point I’m out of breath. There are two options; hurt myself trying to win the race or strategically figure out where Paul would make his move to take the lead. I choose the later!. In doing so, team one end up winning the race thanks to everyone involved. There was a second obstacle course run in which it came down to corbin and Dominic. Dominic was the first to start the maze and had a nice lead. Corbin made a strategic move to get in front of him on a turn. However, he made himself vulnerable to get overtaken on a similar turn. Again Mark’s team, AKA team one, win’s again.
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[two_fourth class=”” last=”no” ]After the obstacle course there was a hour break and the food committee of course had to cook spaghetti for everyone. It was the best spaghetti I ever tasked in my life. It had ground turkey and I hate ground turkey. The third and final ice breaker was by Paul Stephens. He asked for any man or boy to ask a question about anything. These answers are left at the campsite.[/two_fourth]
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http://www.markswist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/DSC01393.jpg[/images_slider][/two_fourth][two_fourth class=”” last=”yes” ]Our last activity was a campfire. We all bundled up, grabbed our flashlights, and gathered around a campfire. Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Lee for getting the fire started. We all roasted marshmallows. Some people’s marshmallows I couldn’t tell they were marshmallow any more. Harvey’s marsh mellow I couldn’t tell it had been roasting at all. As a matter of fact Harvey put the marsh mellow on the stick, mad the quickest wave over the fire I’ve ever seen and ate the marshmallow. This may have been the rawest marshmallow I’ve ever seen anyone roast. Everything discussed at this campfire will forever be left at the campfire. Well there is one thing; everyone (besides me of course lol) started jumping because they heard a noise. They flashed their flashlights to see if it was as Jasmine Sullivan says; a lion, tiger or bear. Which one do you think it was? If you were Jasmine Sullivan you wouldn’t have to be scared. It was a kitten. I’ve never seen a kitten not from the hood not scared of strangers.[/two_fourth]
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[two_third class=”” last=”no” ]Immediately following the campfire, we all met in the house and Certificates were given out to everyone in the family. These certificates were a pledge to keep everyone in the family close and to be everyone’s brother’s keep on behalf of Levy “Daddy” White.[/two_third][one_third class=”” last=”yes” ][/one_third]
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Pledge

After that everyone was allowed to hangout in the house but be respectful of the house. I myself watched football highlights with Paul Stephens. Marcus, Bubba, Terry and Harvey all played spades. The outcome I do not know. Alan hit the sack as soon as he came in the house. I am now aware thanks to Seth that the younger men were sneaking food upstairs. I am now also aware that the food they were sneaking were marsh mellows, chips, cookies, drinks, and slim jims. I don’t know how we didn’t catch them but you better believe I won’t be caught off guard next year.

[two_third class=”” last=”no” ]Everyone woke up at 6:30am the next morning. Mr. and Mrs. Lee were gracious enough to provide breakfast for everyone. They prepared breakfast tacos and potatoes with homemade salsa. Those were some really good tacos. They were just as good as that spaghetti I had the night before. Everyone took a group picture and a picture with Mr. Lee before we headed home. Thank you Levy “Daddy” White. As little Wayne would say “you were fresh off a jet, sharper than Gillette”. [/two_third][one_third class=”” last=”yes” ][/one_third]
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