You're a Winner Either Way!

Not a lot of progress on McNest this holiday weekend due to a couple of things…paintballing on Saturday…and laziness on Labor Day (ironic? Yes).
This post isn’t going to have a lot to do with home improvements…sorry fans! I want to talk about paintball instead. Our church youth group voted on this activity as a back to school event, so that’s how it all started. What better than a friendly game of aggression to get the church kids to come together and fellowship with each other.

Now I have never been paintballing before in my entire 28 years, but it sounded like something fun and worth experiencing at least once in my life (kind of like buying a real pair of Manolo Blahniks or getting front row seats to a New Kids on the Block concert). Oh yeah, that and the fact that I didn’t want my 6th and 7th graders making me feeling like a wuss if I didn’t play.

We headed out from the church and arrived at New Gen relatively early for a Saturday morning. Brit and I were the only girl “leaders” who were going to play. Here we are before any of it started. Pretty hair and makeup still intact. Right after this photo was taken we were taken into a little room and some paintball professional guy explained how everything worked. I didn’t really hear anything other than “it will hurt” … “you’ll get your eye shot out” … and “raise your hand when you get hit or want out of the game”… fun!!

I pretty much knew all I needed to know though. Basically the goal of paintball is simple. Shoot everyone else without getting shot :) Then he told us to put on these terrible face masks. Eddie had to help me out with that one. Obviously it was super attractive which caused him to laugh in my face as he adjusted it on my head. Bye bye good hair day.

We headed outside into what I can only describe Saharan Desert high temperatures. Who planned this trip during the hottest time of the year? Oh yeah…us. We split into teams and ran (who am I kidding I walked) out onto the fields. I planned on hiding behind the closest barricade (mainly because it was the closest – but secondly because I thought if I was further away I wouldn’t get hit). My style of paintballing can be described as less precision shooting…more volume shooting. I just fired and fired and fired. Not really aiming at anything, because I couldn’t really see out of the mask anyways.

The first time I was shot…it was a hit to the head. Yes…you read that right. Adam fired away and orange paint splattered right onto the part of my head that wasn’t protected by a terribly ugly mask. I remembered to hold my hand up and I walked off the field. It didn’t hurt at all! I was super psyched about that. The next game started and I assumed my sniper position again. I was trying to aim at a kid that I thought was Craig. I totally got him. I would like to say that it was skill…but since I was merely shooting in his general direction and not expecting to hit anything I’m thinking it was luck. Still – pretty psyched about that good luck.

That feeling lasted approximately 2 seconds when all of the sudden I felt a burning sensation on my right arm. It felt like I had been stung by an entire hive of bees. The pain was excruciating for about five seconds, then it pretty much went away. And the kid wasn’t even Craig – but new kid Caleb. Apparently I shot him twice – once in the neck and once in the side – Welcome to the youth group Caleb!

We played a few more games after that. I got shot a few more times and did some more shooting of my own. By this time my internal body temperature had to have been around 212 degrees…my makeup had melted off my face…and my hair can only be described as tragic. As I sat on a little grassy hill watching the kids load their guns for the last game…I tried to decide if I should go ahead and throw up from heat exhaustion or try to play the last game with the kids. Afterall – I didn’t want to be a wimp at the very end. Totally should have. Once I put that mask back on my face, I felt like I was going to suffocate. Basically I sat behind the barricade and just pulled the trigger over and over and over. I was either going to hit someone or run out of paintballs. I didn’t care at that point.

Game over. A quick trip to McDonalds and then a devotion at the church ended the days youth activities. Eddie and I planned to go to his house and jump in the pool. Good plan – but what actually happened was a three hour nap instead. The next morning I realized that I had been hit a few more times that I had originally thought. My legs were so sore that I briefly considered staying in bed the entire day. But I didn’t. So yeah, I may have a few battle wounds, and my body temperature still hasn’t returned to normal…but I survived. And it was actually pretty fun :) Oh and if you’re still waiting on that after picture – wait on :)