Hello! My name is Lisa, and this is it. Finally, this is where I start my journey!
I have thought about starting this blog for so long and kept telling myself that I would… after. After what? After my kids were grown? After my next project was complete? After I had all my ducks in a row? Like THAT will ever happen!
I saw a shirt the other day that read, “I don’t have ducks or a row… I have SQUIRRELS and they’re EVERYWHERE!” I need that shirt.
Actually, my journey started decades ago, in Atlanta, Georgia, in a small Girl Scout troop where my most vivid memories were formed in my eight year old brain. They were of the tiny wooden scout room we met in that smelled of pine and polished wood. The cupboards full of craft supplies, giant chalk boards on the wall, wooden tables that were worn from years of girls that came before, chairs like the ones at school and church. I was in heaven! Seeing all the art from other troops that met there, pictures of adventures that I hoped might be mine one day also.
I wasn’t in Girl Scouts for very many years as a girl, but when I had girls of my own. I knew this was my second chance. I wanted my daughters to have that kind of memory, something that would lead them into a world of possibilities. Camping, crafts, friends, and tons of fun! My first adventure as a troop leader carried so much of a learning curve; I tried out so many new and “exciting” ideas! Had Pinterest been around, the results of some of those ideas would definitely have been featured in a series of Pinterest failure videos! Thank goodness for my eldest daughter and her best friend who would try things out before the meetings!
Years went along and we got better at it all. Then, one magical day, we bought a house that had a glorious building out back… it was the ultimate Girl Scout room! I FINALLY had a place that I could re-create my first memories again and we did! We filled it to the brim with every conceivable crafting supply, paper, glue, fabric, feather, and workspace for the girls to create anything they could imagine. Every scout who walked through those doors created a name plate for herself and added it to the wall. We were making history of our own. And creating our own memories.
Years have passed, rooms have changed, and we have created that same feeling in every spot we have met. 25 years of being a scout has taught me resilience and resourcefulness. My own daughters have grown now, and I have two remaining scouts in my troop, both Ambassadors. I feel like it is the end of an era, or maybe a start to a whole new adventure. My scouts are not into the journeys; they are both in High School and are taking college classes at the same time, so more “bookwork” as they call it is tedious. They do it but try to make it fun. What they DO like though is cooking, community service, and global projects!
So that is where my troop’s focus is now: girl led, and I follow. I am the Global Connect Chair for my Community. We, as a troop, have put on events like Diwali to showcase our Girl Scout world center Sangam in India, a showcase about Kusafiri our traveling world center from Africa, and this year we will be adding “Day of the Dead” to showcase Our Cabana from Mexico. Our community loves the events, and my girls are learning so many organizational and presentation skills to take with them. Most important they are doing exactly what Daisy would have done, created a community of scouts who have a heart for service.
I will continue on in my roles on our community team and hopefully can focus on visiting other troops to bring some celebrations to their meetings, helping to make memories for all the girls I can.
“The work of today is the history of tomorrow, and we are its makers.” — Juliette Gordon Low