Our First Scouting Experience

It was my idea for Z to join boy scouts. I pleaded with my husband as fervently as a top selling Mary Kay lady working toward a pink cadillac.

It's only a $50 fee for the entire year I told him, and you know he has never had a chance to do Soccer or anything. He needs some form of extra curricular activity. He has made very few friends since we moved here. This could be good for him. They even include God in their motto!



After convincing my husband to go to the recruiter meeting I quickly learned that the $50 fee was just the beginning and just the uniform alone doubled that investment. Then between Z loosing his first patch, breaking my neck trying to sell popcorn, and having scheduling conflicts with one event after the other I was really starting to wonder what I had gotten us into.



The popcorn sales were the worst. They wanted each boy to sell a minimum of $275. The popcorn isn't nearly as popular as it's girl scout counterpart, little miss cookie. And it's way more expensive. I was certain we were never going to reach that goal, but he we worked our hardest to do so. He did sales at Kroger, he asked relatives, church members, and we even went door to door in our apartment building. He wore his uniform every time. I honestly didn't expect much from our apartment attempts. I assume all of our neighbors hate us because one has made formal complaints. The kids are really loud. I liken it to a construction truck that beeps to let you know it's backing up, or an emergency vehicle that has a siren to alert "Make Way! Coming Through!". My kids are like that when they go through the halls. They just don't want anyone to get run over so they become as loud as possible to warn everyone that we are exiting (or entering) the building. Not only do our neighbors get irritated by us, but let's be honest, it's not the most affluent community either. I felt guilty even acknowledging that a a $25 bag of carmel popcorn exists! Having said all that, the Lord graciously reminded me that I might not know everything I think I know about all the people I am so quick to judge. Nearly every door we went to made a purchase (granted we were selective about whose we knocked on, but still!). The tenants of our humble apartment building bought more popcorn than anyone. I am glad to say that all the popcorn has officially been delivered and Z sold just over $275.



They had a HUGE party last night for the boys of the pack in celebration and the kids had the best time. I ran into a fellow tiger cub mother that I have connected with in the midst of this scouting experience. The story of how we met is actually quite interesting.


This is a horrible picture. We had just spent two hours in a sweaty venue late at night.

You see, I met this mom at Mother Son Night. We knew our boys were in cub scouts together



 (I even posted this picture of our boys in a previous blog post before these events took place).

We spent a lot of time chatting that night and really hit it off. We finally decided we should exchange numbers and get together some time. I gave her my number and she put it in her phone. Then she said "How funny. I have your number already" and showed me that I was indeed in her contacts. She had my first and last name (and my last name was spelled correctly, which can be tricky). So then she called me so that I could have her number and I said "Oh my goodness! I already have your number too!" There is was on my screen, her first and last name with her cell number. I had no idea how this could be. This was the first time we had met (so we thought). We tried to figure out if there had been some kind of scout meeting where information was given, but I was never at any of the events she was.  It just didn't make sense. Fortunately, there is a little notes section in my phone's address book where I had typed the word "park". I saw that and asked her "Did we meet at the park?" After seriously racking our brains trying to figure it out, it hit me, when and where it was. We had met at the park two years ago before either one of us lived in the current city where our boys attend school now! I kid you not! In fact we live in Ohio now and the park is an hour away in Kentucky where we both lived at the time! Sorry for all the exclamation marks, but isn't that crazy? JUST CRAZY! Obviously we got along the first time we met, but we never followed through with our attempts to connect. Then two years later our boys are in cub scouts together we meet again and would have never even remembered our first meeting if it weren't for our phones!

So it is a small world after all and I guess I'll admit that cub scouts does have it's benefits.