Sunday Night With John: Eldora Worthy

Eldora Worthy

John Paul Derryberry

Sixteen years ago, as a wide-eyed 20-year-old, I jumped into a car with three friends and drove to Eldora, Iowa, to camp and float the river. I owned no camping gear and showed up hoping others would take care of me for the weekend. This Friday, 16 years later, as a grizzled veteran of the yearly camping and floating trip, I again showed up with next to nothing. My family is in the middle of a move with stuff in one area, us in another, as we wait to get the keys to our new house.  Once again the group supported my less than an equal contribution; that's what happens at Eldora with this group.  Anyone can show up with what they've got and enjoy the weekend because we take care of each other this weekend. 

Sixteen years ago, the trip was filled with a school-bus-full group. Over the years it trickled down and down until it was just a group of guys about 10 deep. We ballooned back to 15 people as wives and new friends have adopted our yearly spiritual bath in the Iowa River. It has become my annual pilgrimage, my mental and moral journey to remind myself of who I was and see if I'm still worthy of these great friendships and the life I have. 

I feel a great sense of sorrow for those who used to attend and decided their next phase of life did not include this yearly trip. We all need trips like this to reminisce and laugh about the people we were in our youth. I even joked this weekend to a friend, after a particular comment, that the 20-year-old floaters we were then would be very unhappy with that statement. We have to measure ourselves against the time we've spent together. To be in a place that is unchanged, to gauge how we have grown, is the most spiritual process we have. Too many have thrown that away with low excuse thresholds. 

I missed the trip last year due to the arrival of our daughter. It was my first miss. We now only have one member with perfect attendance.  He may remind the group of this fact every once in a while. It was my absence that revealed the spiritualness of this pilgrimage. As I basked in some of the 16-year-old jokes, reveled in the stories of years passed, and bathed my soul in the warmth of quality friendships, I realized how important this trip is to me, hopefully, all of us.

Every year we try to top each other with gags, reveals, and costumes. I will not disclose any of them here because they are not mine to share, but ours. And, too many shared memories are shared without consent in our social media world.  But this year, the big reveal, the over-the-top gesture was to nominate two members of the group for alumni of the year from our undergrad college. I was one of the ones picked to nominate by these guys who know the immensely complicated person I am. I, with all my warts and all through all these years, was measured by my commitment to serving others. They deemed me WORTHY!

More than likely, I was not deemed worthy by the selection committee at our college, but that does not matter.  What matters is the people who know me best, who know so many different versions of me, decided the core of my being is worthy of recognition.  I stood on the banks of a stretch of the Iowa River I now know like the back of my hand and had my river moment. It was better than receiving any plaque in a boardroom. 

For 16 years we have made this trip and at some point along the way it was woven into the fabric of our lives. We pick a weekend and come back together -- rinse, wash, repeat. I joke that I hope we do it until our 70s, but it's not really a joke anymore. So planning for next year's trip has already begun. I just hope I continue to be weighed and measured by this trip as worthy; worthy of these friends, worthy of the life I have, and worthy of continuing to serve and assist so many across so many communities.