I Miss Girl Scouts

On Friday I visited my Girl Scout co-leader and her family to catch up and exchange travel stories. I told her about my trip to Africa and she told me about her trip with the Girl Scouts to the Girl Scout Chalet in Switzerland. Her trip involved Germany and Paris as well. We caught up on our lives and the lives of our girls. We talked about the girls in our troop and what we know of how they are doing. We had an awesome troop of girls. We both agree on that. Our troop was #631. The 631 girls were not the type of girls to sit at a table and do crafts quietly. Noooo, not at all. Troop 631 girls were more likely to be running up and down between the tables and having a good old time. Troop 631 girls liked to travel and see new things and to plan their own activities. Troop 631 girls figured out problems on their own - often surprising me with their successes. They did things I never thought would work out but I was smart enough to keep my big mouth shut and contain my surprise. All we leaders got to do was ask a few leading questions and go along for the ride. And what a ride it was. Don't think we didn't have problems. We DID have problems! Interpersonal conflicts? Yes. Cliques? Oh, yes. Yelling, screaming, and tears? Yes, yes and oh, yes. Why do you think Troop 631 earned so many badges on conflict resolution and team building? Eventually it all worked out and every girl in our troop went on to earn the Gold Award. For those who are unfamiliar with Girl Scouts, the Gold Award is the highest award a girl can get - equivalent to the more higly publicized Eagle Award in Boy Scouts. I miss my very successful girls. I miss seeing them a couple times a month. I miss hearing what they had to say. I miss their energy because some of their youthfulness was transferred to me. I miss their perspectives. I miss being involved with them. I miss going to Dunn Brothers for meetings even though I don't drink coffee. I miss watching them accomplish their goals. I miss bearing witness to their courage in overcoming their fears and pushing themselves out of their comfort zone. I miss the way the meetings forced me to take my mind off my own troubles and focus on something else. I miss the cases of cookies piled high to the ceiling in my entry way. I DO NOT miss the Girl Scout cookie paperwork and the troop end of the year reports. I know I will see them again. We put together a time capsule last year (or was it the year before?) that will be opened in July of 2017. The time capsule is gathering dust in the rafters of my garage. And they are all my friends on facebook so I have that going for me too.