I started the troop after realizing I had entirely too much free time on my hands. Um, right. What happened was, Sabrina couldn't join an after-school troop because I'm at work then, no other ones in our area met in the evenings and I wanted her to have the experience. Before I committed to it, I asked a friend's advice. She said, "What's one more thing you don't have time to do?"
Our Brownie troop is run as a co-op, which helps—I plan activities and outings, order supplies and pass along news and information, and moms take turns running meetings. I often find myself staring at my computer screen at 12:30 a.m. catching up on emails and organizing things, which takes twice as long to do when it's twelve freaking thirty in the morning.
No worries, I won't be begging you to buy Girl Scout cookies because I already polished off the boxes we had left, although next cookie season I might ask you to come to my house and physically restrain me from reaching for Samoas.
The girls are awesome. A couple of parents have made things a leetle challenging, and I will just leave it at that. Soon I'll be getting First Aid and CPR training (useful life skills to have), along with becoming Outdoor Certified so I can start campfires (a useful life skill for working in an office, should we ever get stuck there in an emergency without electricity and we need to make s'mores).
Sabrina's in excellent company; former Girl Scouts include Michelle Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, Lara Bush, Madeleine Albright, Sandra Day O'Connor, Katie Couric, Barbara Walters, Venus Williams, Lucille Ball, Gloria Steinem and Celine Dion, who must have been fun to have at sing-a-longs.
Last week, Sabrina asked "Mommy, are you going to be the leader next year? I like that you're the leader." Which made it all worth it. Because I do so much for Max, and this is one thing that's all about her.
I do love those s'mores—and campfire cuddles.
