Going back to Childhood

"Twist me and turn me and show me the elf."
I looked in the water and saw...myself.


With my mother's hallway mirror as our pond, 20+ first grade girls recited that couplet, looked into the mirror, and became Brownie Girl Scouts. I had really no idea what being a girl scout entailed. Does any little girl really know? I did know I would belong, I would have fun, and I would learn skills I had never dreamed of.

My family was immersed in Girl Scouting. At my father's funeral, there were girls of every age, dressed in their scout uniforms, there honoring the "Man who was a Girl Scout," or "Mr. Gretchen" as the girls at Girl Scout Camp would call him. My mother was my troop leader from first grade brownies all the way to twelfth grade Senior Scouts. There were girls I was in scouting with through all those years, ones I met at Sugar Hollow Day Camp, which my parents ran for several years each summer, and ones I met on Wider Opportunities across the nation. We were all achievers. And that is what I miss most about scouting: earning badges.

Admittedly, I like recognition. I like checking off requirements and receiving a reward for my efforts. I like looking back at what I have learned from the journey of earning. I enjoy the drive I get when there is a clear set of objectives set before me of what I need to do in order to become proficient in something. I remember looking through the try-it, badge, and interest project patch books, searching for ones that seemed interesting to me, checking out the requirements, and getting to work. One summer I over heard some girls at camp saying, "She has all those because Gretchen is her mom, and just gets them for her. I bet she hasn't even earned them." It hurt, but I knew the truth: I had completed every requirement necessary to receive those badges, and all the skills that went along with them.

Now that I'm an adult, having graduated college, and gotten a masters degree, I pretty much just plug away at my job, doing the daily requirements to keep it, and focusing mostly on that, not on bettering myself. I long for the days when I would feel a real sense of accomplishment. For some reason checking off the requirements given to me by others helped me feel that.

Recently I came across the book, You Can Do It!: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls by Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas, Yvette Bozzini, Vaughn Lohec and Dara Near, and I knew I had to get it and start learning some new skills. So, my goal is to complete one of the Grown-Up Girl Merit Badges per month. I will track my success here, and hopefully share my triumphs (although, I'm sure there will also be some mishaps) with you.