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go have fun. This trip was created to be<br />
an opportunity for the group to form an<br />
unbreakable bond with each other that<br />
would span decades—and so far, it had<br />
done just that.<br />
Next thing we knew, four years had<br />
gone by, and we’d already made life-long<br />
memories with each other that we’ll be<br />
able to talk about forever. But little did<br />
we know, the best was yet to come.<br />
I would consider trips 5-11 to be the<br />
most iconic years of the mission—just<br />
because of our ages. We went all over<br />
and continued to make memories, but<br />
the later years started to feel a little<br />
different. We were getting older.<br />
During our sixth trip, which was in<br />
Nashville, the dads decided to try<br />
something new that they had heard<br />
might be cool. These places were<br />
called escape rooms—and they were<br />
new to the entertainment scene<br />
and quickly gaining popularity.<br />
The escape room experience was a<br />
turning point for the secret mission, and we have not done a single<br />
mission since without completing one or two of them—a continued<br />
staple of the trip.<br />
The bond of the group grew greater with the revelation of escape<br />
rooms, and the core traditions of the trip had been cemented. There<br />
could be no secret mission without the basics—scavenger hunt, escape<br />
rooms, and late-night conversations over card games. We had no idea<br />
how important these traditions would be in forming the relationships<br />
we have with each other today.<br />
After 11 years of the trip, we had watched NBA and NHL games<br />
together, had gone to Dave and Busters more times than the average<br />
person should, and experienced some of America’s greatest cities<br />
together. We’d ziplined, boat toured, ice skated, and theme park<br />
hopped. It was hard to grasp how much the trip had grown, and more<br />
importantly how much we had grown since the secret mission’s<br />
beginning. It’s still baffles me to think that we went from taking a<br />
train to Brookhaven to taking a flight to Chicago, making lifelong<br />
memories all along the way.<br />
The last few years of the secret mission have looked a little different.<br />
With COVID-19 and all the challenges that it brought to planning a<br />
trip, we were provided the opportunity to slow down and change the<br />
trip’s dynamic. We started as young kids—but now all but one of us are<br />
either in college or graduated<br />
college. We’ve grown up—and the<br />
secret mission has found yet a<br />
new meaning.<br />
Before, it was about keeping the<br />
kids entertained. Now, it’s about<br />
keeping the kids close. We used to<br />
talk about our favorite toys and how<br />
our sports were going, and now we<br />
talk about our values and what’s<br />
really going on in our lives. I’m not<br />
completely sure that any of us knew<br />
where the secret mission was going<br />
to end up, or how close we would<br />
become as a group, but I am beyond<br />
grateful for it.<br />
Thankfully the tradition is far from<br />
over. But it’s still fun to look back and<br />
reminisce over the times we’ve had so<br />
far. Looking back at the pictures,<br />
documenting the countless memories<br />
we have made, and charting the growth<br />
of the trip and the group really allows<br />
me to grasp the true meaning of our<br />
time together. The unbreakable bond and<br />
community we have formed makes the trip that much more worthwhile.<br />
I would want nothing more than to be able to keep the secret mission<br />
going with my own children with the hopes of creating the same<br />
traditions and instilling the same values that our fathers have created<br />
and instilled in us. I grow more and more grateful every day for the<br />
sacrifices that have been made and the time that our dads have spent<br />
crafting this trip to become what it has, and I hope that this tradition<br />
is one that will be handed through generations because of their efforts.<br />
I can think of no greater legacy.<br />
So here I sit, writing this piece as a sophomore in college, with<br />
the same enthusiasm and anticipation for this year’s trip that that<br />
six-year-old had sitting in the train station in Jackson thirteen years<br />
ago. We’ve been to Brookhaven, New Orleans, Memphis, Little Rock,<br />
Dallas, Nashville, St. Louis, Houston, Atlanta, Chicago, Asheville,<br />
Huntsville, and Orlando. And as time would tell, I have a completely<br />
different appreciation for the secret mission than I ever would have<br />
imagined. I am beyond grateful for the community-turned-family that<br />
I get to do it with, and I’m eager to see where it leads us in the future.<br />
And more than anything, I am extremely excited for this year’s<br />
trip. Of course, I don’t know where we’re going. They still keep it a<br />
secret. And like they’ve always told us, we’ll just have to find out.<br />
Hometown MADISON • 67
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