Category: motherhood

"No" feels so good.

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The new principal at my daughter’s school is putting together a committee of parents to work in the gardens there.  There will also be a vegetable garden, and yes, it is going to be worked into curriculum.  I am so freaking excited I don’t know where to begin.  Except that I’m not in charge.  That’s right, when the question was asked who wanted to head up the vegetable garden committee, for once I didn’t volunteer.
This is huge for me.

I love gardens.  Digging a new hole is my favorite form of therapy.  Teaching kids how to garden, so that they can learn how much better it is to eat fresh, healthy food, how easy it is for them to be able to do so?  So part of my goal of overhauling our entire food system.  I have a tendency to stand up and take charge when no one else does.  But not this time.  My main reason is really that my daughter moves up the upper elementary school after June and I feel this project needs a parent that’s more invested in the long term than myself. There are other reasons, like, a need to really focus more on my fledgling business and my own garden.  There are other parents that have the same ideas I have, so it really was sort of easy to let go.
I’ve had a few people tell me how I should be in charge of this committee.  I know, it seems like a good fit, but at the same time, it’s not.  I’m happy to help out, but let someone else take charge.  It might not seem like it, but I don’t always like being in charge.  I might be good at it, I might do it quite a bit, but that doesn’t mean I like it.  It’s far easier to say “Yes” to something and find a way to juggle it in than to say “No”, but man, saying “No” is really empowering. 

Courage

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Courage is being
brave.  Courage is
facing your fears.
Courage is being confident
in yourself.
Edie recently wrote this right before bedtime one night.  I found it on the nightstand the next morning.  She shrugged it off as something she was supposed to write for school. 
I am biased, but I think it’s one of the most beautiful, truest things ever written.
I am posting it here in honor of her 10th birthday.  Motherhood is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life and one of the most rewarding.  Every time I read this, I realized we’ve done something right with her.

I am THAT mom.

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When Edie started preschool, I was just coming out of the mindset that I needed to use my college degree in the field in which I had studied and trained, aka, career mom.  And honestly, as much as I loved being home with her all day, I was really looking forward to those few hours a week where I got to drop her off with someone else and go do my own thing.  I didn’t even bother looking at any preschool that used the word co-op.  I wanted to write a check, drop her off and call it a day.

So, when she started kindergarten, I was slightly taken aback as Pat pointed to all the sign up sheets her teacher had laid out for volunteer opportunities. 

“Which ones do you want to sign up for?”

I’m pretty sure I just gave him a confused look.  I had just gotten myself a career type job again and was looking forward to getting back on that path.  In my mind, that did not leave time for volunteering at school.  Wasn’t that what supermoms did?  I was not one of those.

“Uhm, I’m not that kind of parent.”

“We are that kind of parent.”

Somehow, I ended up signing up to read to her class every now and again, although when his schedule would allow, I sent Pat in, since you, ‘we’ were that kind parenting team.

At the end of the year, her teacher asked me if I would help out with the class picnic.  Sure thing.  When I got to school that day, I realized I was in charge of the whole shebang, along with another mom that had been nominated.

When Edie started first grade, she also wanted to be a girl scout.  I had just spent the better part of a year going around with the local council who couldn’t tell me where a troop was that my daughter could join, so finally, sucker that I am, I started one.  This also emboldened me to try my hand at organizing some class parties. 

I might be what people call ‘crafty’, as in, I like to make things.  Sewing and knitting on my own does in no way give me any sort of talent for organizing 15+ children in any sort of crafty activity.  Not only that, I have dream child.  Seriously.  I don’t say this to brag, I say this because she has lulled me into thinking that any sort of craft I come up with from any website or that is suggested by the girl scouts that she is capable of doing with me, that any child her age can do.  Nothing is farther from the truth.  She has a much longer attention span than kids her age.  She also is a big rule follower (she so does not that get that from me), and at the age of 6 was a better colorer than myself. She’s been rolling out my pie crusts and sugar cookies since she was 2.  I should have seen the red flag that was her printing out her own Martha activities, but I thought all 6 year old girls that were left a little unsupervised for too long did that.  I learned the hard way my kid is not like the others.  Turns out I really stink at creating activities for kids that aren’t mine. 

Somehow, despite organizing a few slightly disastrous events, her teacher that year approached me about organizing the class picnic for the entire grade.  So, first grade, I put together the class picnic too.  Somehow this has evolved into me now just telling the team of teachers at her grade level that I will do the end of the year picnic.  Other parents in the class have told me they expect this.  Far from me to let them down.  This is also my excuse for not volunteering at so many other events.  Or, it has been. Thankfully, that mom that was nominated to help me that first year always steps forward to be my right hand gal at every event I foolishly take on.

Last year, Edie had a teacher who, how shall we say this politely?  Really needed help from parents in her classroom.  I may have taken over an event or two, although to be honest, it didn’t dawn on me until today that I actually did that.  I know I wasn’t the only parent to take over an event, so I suppose that’s why I didn’t think much of it.

This year, when Edie’s teacher asked for parents to volunteer, I said I was available.  (We are those parents you know.)  Great, could I come in every Thursday and help with math?  Math is not my strong point, in fact, daily I’m pretty sure that every math teacher I ever had, not to mention my high school guidance counselor is laughing at me, for I insisted to them all that I did NOT need math later in life.  Ahem.  Turns out it’s on the quiz EVERY DAY.  That geometry I hated?  Slightly essential for interior design, especially when floor and wall coverings are in measured and ordered in things like square feet.  And things like, altering recipes and knitting patterns also require math.  D’oh!  But, her teacher assured me, I’d be working with students that needed help with basics and I would be fine.  I have trouble with basics too really, I never did memorize my multiplication tables, something I’ve never admitted. Still, her teacher assured me I could do this.  (The jury is still out on that one.)

A few weeks before Christmas, I got a phone call on a Saturday morning from a mom friend, who has a child in Edie’s class.  What did I know about the Christmas party the teacher was planning?  Had anyone responded to his flyer about the Christmas party?  Wouldn’t I just step in and handle it? “It’s what you do Becky”. 

See? Still in complete denial that I am THAT mom.

A few weeks ago, I was in for my regular Thursday afternoon with Edie’s class.  The new wellness policy of Charlottesville City schools calls for no more than once a month birthday celebrations and her teacher told me they were going to enforce it, starting now.  I asked how he wanted to go about it, since Edie did have a birthday this month and I couldn’t help but notice he had a few other students with birthdays this month and would it be helpful if I contacted the other parents and organized for him?  Of course he went for it, and somehow in my organizing it, I realized I set the date to be Edie’s actual birthday.  To be fair, it’s Thursday, when they have ‘flex time’ and I know they have a little time for it.  But yes, the date may have swayed me. 

And so suddenly, I realize, I am THAT mom.  I am coming to terms with this.  I’m not entirely sure how I got here, although in writing this, I see the trail.  I’ve evolved into it, over time. 

I’ve always thought I’m different from the other moms, certainly different from what I called the ‘supermoms’.  I wear my pj’s to the bus stop on a daily basis.  The kids actually ask what’s up if I’m not in my pj’s.  I’ve even worn my fluffy pink robe out to wave the bus down, as Edie was running late and I didn’t want her to miss it. Actually, I’ll wear my pj’s to Reid’s market to pick up something before noon on a weekend morning if you really want to know the truth.  I’m known to pregame evening events at school -not saying which ones, but sometimes, a drink beforehand is the only way to get through them.  I never fail to humiliate my child by my get-ups I work in the yard in- the more embarrassing the ensemble for her, the more of her friend’s parents that drive by, or worse, stop to chat. Yesterday, the first grader across the street stopped as she was getting off the bus and asked me “What are you wearing?”.  (My overalls). She so did not approve.    I kinda let my opinions fly and I don’t always care if someone is offended.  I don’t carry a cell phone on a regular basis and the one I do have, less than 10 people in the entire universe know the number.  That does not include me.  I have no idea what my cell number is.  Seriously.  I suck at kid’s crafts.  I hate games, so I avoid organizing them at all costs. My idea of a party is to just serve alcohol and call it a day.  I have exactly 11 more years before I can pull this off with my daughter’s birthday parties.  I have potty mouth and forget to censor myself in front of kids sometimes, which then leads me to say, “Earmuffs” only to realize that it’s not appropriate for kids to have seen “Old School” and so therefore, really have no idea what I’m talking about.  And then there is the fact that I talk to kids as if they are grown ups.  I’ve been known to say, not only to my own kid, but members of my girl scout troop “I’m really just not in the mood to deal with what you are doing right now, so can you not do that?  Great, thanks.” in a somewhat firm, but sarcastic tone.   I find they generally respond to that well.  I am all for bagging a girl scout meeting plan and having the girls run and play while the moms chat, preferably over a bottle of wine, or three.   When you pick your child up from a playdate at my house, chances are, I have a glass of wine in my hand and offer you one.   (There may be a theme there.)  When your kid has a sleepover at my house, there’s a good chance I’m in bed before they are and when I get up, they have usually turned on the tv.  I will feed them breakfast in bed because I don’t want to interrupt their movie and they generally have agreed to waiting for me to have at least one cup of coffee before I even go near any other part of the kitchen and then I will make it up to them by making something like, bacon or sausage and chocolate waffles.  I don’t this as spoiling, I see it as a trade-off. 

Really, all the supermom type things I do, like the girl scout troop, like organizing class parties, I do because Edie wants these things to happen and if I can’t get someone else to do it, then I will do them.  Somewhere along the way, I came to the realization that raising a good person was way more important and had a much bigger lasting impact than a career.  So while I always made sure I made time for my kid, when I stepped firmly off career track and decided that I was a mom first and foremost, I really felt okay about making things happen that she really wanted.   I know that it’s a fleeting thing, this view she has of me, where I am incredibly capable and can fix just about everything.  It’s a horrible thing to realize your parents are human, probably far worse for us parents.  The things I have done, simply because she thought I could – it has stretched me beyond my wildest limits, and yet, I really have been able to accomplish the things she thinks I can.  She has far more confidence in me than I do myself, so sometimes when I should say no, I say yes, because what’s the worst that could happen?  I fail and my child finds out I’m human.  She’s bound to figure that out pretty soon anyway.  By saying yes, I’m just holding that day at bay.

It’s About Community.

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Yesterday, my Girl Scout troop wrapped up their food drive at school.   It was part of a earning a badge I wanted them to work on, called Food Power.  As most of our activities at take place at school, I asked the principal of our school if we could do this food drive there.  She answered with the request that we do it for the upcoming holidays and make the recipients families in our school community that needed a little help getting through the season.  Which was perfect, because while I knew I wanted the girls to have some connection with the recipients, ideally other kids, I had no other ideas in mind.
We teamed up with the Daisy troop at school.  (My girls are Juniors.  Girl Scouts are broken up by age into different groups, with Brownies being the age group inbetween.  I get asked about this alot.).  We also had some big help from the Student Government Association, teachers and administrators at school.  This was, in every way, a group effort.
Yesterday was the big day of sorting and packing the donations that had been collected over the last month. 
We were told there were 55 families that had signed up to be part of this effort.  We started with a bag for each and when we filled them, we started a second bag for families with 5 members or more.   In just over an hour and a half, we sorted & packed what amounted to about 80 bags.
As we wrapped up, we got all the girls and leaders to pose for a group shot.
(Most of the Daisies had their uniforms on, my girls, not so much.)
I’ve received several thank yous on behalf of the girls for this.   All our girls did was make a few posters and then sort and pack donations.  The school community donated the items.  There were a few very generous donors who stepped up and made sure we had enough for every family to receive a bag of food as well as gift cards to area grocery stores.  Credit also goes to the incredibly supportive parents (and grandparents) of the girls in both troops, many of whom came to help out yesterday.  Most of all, credit must go to the school administrators, who gave us the idea, encouragement and support to make this happen.
The girls worked beautifully together.  They all jumped in so enthusiastically and with very little direction, knocked it out. I loved seeing the big ones working with the little ones in such a seamless way.  I don’t know if the girls truly understand the impact they had on their world yesterday.  I know mine doesn’t.  What I think matters most though, is that they made a difference in their community.  Because when it comes down to it, we’re all in this together. 

On music and motherhood.

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There are certain things everyone says they will never do as parents.  Of course, most of these declarations are when we are all knowing and childless.  Sometimes these even run into the first few years of being a parent, when you still think you are somewhat in control.

The top of my list was becoming a soccer mom, going to a PTO meeting and listening to top 40 radio.
The first two have been violated, but I’m holding fast to that last one.

I have no problem admitting I’m a music geek.  I love all sorts of music (generally), as does my husband.  Even if our taste isn’t always the same, we both like discovering new bands and sharing them.  Over the years, we have both made mixes (first on CD, now on itunes for her ipod) for Edie.  Now that she’s getting older and starting to develop her own taste in music, she leaves us lists of what she’d like loaded on her ipod next.  There is a frightful amount of what I call ‘that new crap’ on those lists, and so I hand it over to her father.  He takes the time to listen to everything first, making sure it’s appropriate for her 9 year old ears.  He will also then throw some songs in there that he thinks she would like.  She recently complained that the last time she handed her father a list, he took the opportunity to practically fill her ipod with HIS music.

‘He put Nirvana on there.  And Gillian Welch.  And some other stuff you two like”. 

Suddenly, we are being roped together in this music battle – Us vs. Her.  (And yes, we’ve had some battles.) I’ve realized that my freakishly nerdy 80’s music trivia knowledge is being matched by my daughter’s equally deep knowledge about today’s music.  A few weeks ago, she was curled up in the den watching the red carpet for some music awards show and knew who everyone was.  There was some fellow I had never seen before and she started rattling off everyone he had been playing with – Nicki Minaj (I had to look that up!) as well as Usher.  How does she know this?!?!  We don’t have cable, her screen time, both TV and computer is generally limited and supervised.  I get that she wants to listen to what her friends listen to. I worry that she’s liking it, despite our work of making sure she only listens to ‘good’ music.  Our definition of good of course. 

There are moments of hope though.  I was cleaning her room a few months back when I stumbled upon an old Red Hot Chili Peppers CD in her stash.  I asked her where it came from and she answered “Well, I needed something new to listen to, so I went through your CD’s and thought that looked interesting.” (She liked it!).   She loves Ozzy.  Driving home from market on a Saturday morning a few weeks ago, she recognized the Dead playing with Dylan on one of his songs, “Stuck down in Mobile….”.  I was so proud.  After all, how many 9 year olds can identify a Bob Dylan song?

That’s the thing about parenthood.  You enter it with all the best intentions, only to have most of them shattered by those beautiful little creatures.  You have to learn to let go, to surrender control and just hope that some of what you want to imprint upon them sticks. 

Living History.

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This morning there was a ceremony to unveil a historic marker in front of my daughter’s school.  The school closed in September of 1958 rather than integrate.  This was part of the movement
 known as  ‘Massive Resistance’. 
The school reopened in February of 1959
and in September of that year,
the “Venable Nine” walked up the front steps
 and into the school that had previously been off limits to them.

The steps my daughter’s class stood on
and sang in honor of them this morning.
 I’m not sure she entirely understands how
different the world was then. 
Six of the original ‘Venable Nine’ were in attendance this morning. 
Charles E. Alexander brought his mother, for as they all took a turn at a few words, each of them pointed out, it wasn’t them that decided they should attend Venable, it was their parents.
That is who they wanted to celebrate today – their parents.
 It was a good reminder that it is our jobs as parents to push our kids to change the world .

It can happen – look at them. 

How did that happen?

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Last week (and the week before that too actually) got completely out of my control.   Although I managed to stay on top of my to-do list and handle all the kinks that got thrown in, there wasn’t much time for things like goofing off, or picture taking or blogging…….    I could sit here and list what’s kept me busy, but it’s not very interesting.  Being PTO secretary, a Girl Scout Leader and a soccer mom took up most of my time, which then leads to me to navel gaze and wonder how the heck that happened to me.  I swore I was never ever getting involved in the PTO….and here I am…..And soccer.  I’ve whined a few times on here about how I really can’t stand soccer.  How I refuse to be a so-called soccer mom and yet I hear I’m actually one of the worst ones out there.   I comfort myself with the  fact that at least I don’t drive a mini-van. 

I blame motherhood for all of these developments in my life.  And a husband who says, “We are those sort of parents.”.  Sigh.  What can you do?  Not be that sort of person? I don’t know how, it’s hard wired into me.  I see something that needs to be done and I work to make sure it gets done, even if that means doing it myself.  That’s at least my excuse for PTO and Girl Scouts.  Soccer?  Well, Edie loves it.  So I just grin and bear it.  And try to not let her know how much I don’t like it.  Clearly, I’m pulling it off.

Already this week doesn’t look quite so busy.  For starters, Edie is sick again.  Her strep test at the doctor’s was negative this morning, but you can look at her and tell she doesn’t feel good.  And it’s my birthday, so I’ve already decided things we’re not doing because we need to have more fun instead.

And if it’s not fun, I really don’t think we should do it.  Sure, there are things you have to do that aren’t always fun (cleaning bathrooms), but you can always find a way to make it fun, yes?  So, this week, we are going to have more fun.  Just for kicks, I commissioned myself a custom crown from Royal Revolution.  I think I’ll wear it while I clean the house today…. That will make it fun, yes?

Saving Greenleaf Park.

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Living across the street from Greenleaf Park, we sort of think of it as an extension of our yard. 
Once upon a time, there was a ‘sprinkler’ there.  Not the fancy spray park that’s there today. In fact, there are no remnants of that today, just a field of grass.  The old sprinklers were two metal poles with 2 showerheads stuck on top, on opposite sides, on a concrete pad.  You needed a ‘key’ to turn them on – a tall, heavy, metal pole that is used to turn water on and off at the main.  You could borrow a key from the city, although a neighbor had one, and after a time, Pat decided that since we lived across the street, it was only fitting that we have one as well.  So, two of us had keys to turn the sprinklers off and on.   On hot days in the spring, before the pools would open, the call would go out, and all the kids in the neighborhood would run under the sprinklers – we would block the drain hole and create a wading pool for the babies and the big kids would run around with cups and have a water battle.  The parents would sit on blankets, in the surrounding grass with beverages and snacks and when the water throwing battles got heated and someone would run our way hoping to be protected, we would yell at them “THIS IS A DRY ZONE!”.  It seemed the babies would prefer to be naked (at least, this was the case for mine, who was for at least 4 years running, the first naked kid in Greenleaf Park for the year) and it was lovely.  When the kids got bored and wandered off to the playground, we’d turn the water off to conserve it.  It really was quaint and sweet and would bring the entire neighborhood together.
People who didn’t live in the neighborhood that would chance upon these times would ask how to get a key.  We always referred them to the city.  Some of our friends from outside the neighborhood would know we had them and would come to borrow them, but we tried to keep it as quiet as possible.  We’d hear that the sprinklers at Greenleaf Park were the best kept secret in town.  And we liked it that way.
Over time, the old sprinklers started to deteriorate.  Badly.  We knew they needed to be more than repaired, they needed to be replaced.  There were many fierce debates about how to handle this – the city had a history of taking out equipment that needed to be repaired and just well, taking it out.  Not replacing it.  We lost the big slide that way, the digger, the merry go round…..We didn’t want to see that happen to the sprinklers.  Meanwhile, Belmont Park on the other side of town had just gotten a really incredible new spray park.  What if we asked the city for something like that, but not as big and fancy?  The Belmont sprayground had a water recycling feature we really liked, and bonus, it was touch pad activated and timed, so there would no water running for hours on end (as would sometimes happen when people from outside the neighborhood would get a key.)  That was a pet peeve of ours – going to the park and the sprinklers running with no one running around under them.  A few of us neighborhood folks would see that and take it upon ourselves to turn the water off if there were no kids using it. Oh yes, we would get into arguments and oh yes, we heard we had a reputation around town.  We saw ourselves as the stewards of the park, since we all lived around it and used it, daily. Over time, we watched a hill erode from the water pouring down from the sprinklers.  We knew something had to be done.   
So, the two of us with keys approached the city about replacing the sprinklers at the park.  It was actually an easy sell.  They put in the recycled water feature, they put in a touch pad for the kids to use, they even put a pad under it that was much softer than concrete.  It completely changed the nature of the park and the park, already a very popular park, became THE most popular park not just in town, but in a multiple county area. 
Greenleaf Park was already a birthday party & end of school year picnic hot spot for sports teams, preschools, as well private schools in the area, but suddenly, they were all there AT ONCE. 
It became so over run that the neighborhood kids stopped going.  Fender benders and near misses at the entrance of the park became a regular affair.  When the small lot in the park filled up, people would park on the street around the park, with little regard for driveways.  Heck, some of them would park in people’s yards.  Those of us that live closest to the park got used to picking up garbage and dirty diapers that got left behind.  (Never mind that there’s a restroom with a changing table in the park, apparently, a stranger’s front yard is a much better spot for that activity.).  I find myself constantly asking people to get their kids out of my yard.  I’ve had to ask people to please not let their kids urinate in my yard.  It’s really just ridiculous.
There is a pavilion at the park, that is on a first come, first served basis.  There are generally no less than 10 birthday parties a day on a weekend there.  Parents fight over the pavilion.  They show up at 6 am and will rope it off, for a party at 4 that afternoon.  I’ve heard tales of fist fights over use of the pavilion.  The park is not big enough for this kind of use, nor does it have the parking.  Some Saturdays, we leave our house to go to a soccer game, and cannot park within blocks of our house when we get home. 
Last spring, I witnessed 2 preschool picnics, a group from the city upper elementary school up the street, as well as two busloads of children from the county’s public schools, all using the park at the same time.  It was wall to wall people.  The park was overrun.  And that was just one day – try that amount of traffic every day for most of April, May and into June. Our neighborhood was being overrun.  
I attempted to contact the city parks & rec department, as well as the entire city council, trying to get them to address the situation.  Trying to get them to come see for themselves how this was degrading the park.  Degrading our neighborhood.  I couldn’t get anyone to return a call or an email.  Frustrating.
The other night, city council had a town hall meeting for our neighborhood.  I showed up and started my statement to the council by telling them how many times I had tried contacting them, as well as parks and rec about this.  I’m pretty sure that got their attention.  As I spoke about the problems at the park, I noticed alot of other residents nodding.  When I mentioned that busloads of Albemarle County kids are still getting dropped off on a regular basis, that made them sit up.  They assured me they would change the pavilion usage policy, to now require reservations. They will not allow large groups to use the park. Hopefully, this will help slow down the number of parties over there.  Hopefully, it will get enforced. 
 It made the front page of the paper the next morning.   A few neighbors have told me thanks and how proud they are that I was not willing to let it go.  I figure, I was responsible for changing the park, for making it as popular as it is today, so I need to continue to take responsibility for the park.  My own child may have outgrown the park on a daily basis, but living across the street from it, we are still affected by the use of the park.  I like to be able to park in front of my house.  I don’t want to pick up other people’s garbage.  I really don’t like having to pick up dirty diapers.  I especially don’t like people yelling at me about how they and their children are entitled to trample my flowerbeds and my vegetable garden.  I wonder how they would feel if I were to do that to them, and frequently ask that.  That usually shuts them up and makes them leave.  Just because we bought a house near a nice park doesn’t mean our property is public property. 
I was proud of myself for getting the sprinklers replaced, even if I don’t always like the end result.  It was better for the park in the long run. What I like the most about being in the paper for speaking up at Thursday’s meeting is that I now have a public record of city officials saying they will address the issues.  I’m proud of myself for going and speaking up.  I hope this means more good change for the park.

Girl Power.

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I’ve had my Girl Scout troop working on a small business badge in which they’ve learned about starting a business.  This week we had a panel of guest speakers,  Martha Stafford of The Charlottesville Cooking School, Robyn Jackson of The Civility School and Alana Woerpel of Alana’s Interior Decoration come talk to the girls about their experiences in being self employed.  Most of the girls already know them as mothers of friends and classmates, but I think they saw them in a new light at our roundtable discussion.  It was a great meeting and it wasn’t until halfway through that at least one of the girls (mine of course), realized my ulterior motive in working on this badge.  (I’m not sure anyone minded though.)  They had empowering things to say to the girls,  telling them that by nature, women multi-task and so therefore are perfectly suited to running their own business, among other things.   They all started by working from home, and in this, I realized I have an advantage in Pat working from home most days.  The three of them talked about how when you work from home, you tend to miss officemates to bounce ideas off of (and just chat with!).   While being home with your significant other all day every day can have it’s challenges, there are some pluses, and we certainly bounce ideas off each other.  Poor guy has to taste test everything for me and make sure I put enough salt in.  (I always seem to forget the salt.)

My troop can at times, be a wild pack, but I have to say, they sat there and listened for the better part of an hour, with their fidgeting kept to a minimum.  If you had seen them just a few weeks ago, you’d understand what a feat this is.  Last year Mrs. Jackson helped us earn our Manners badge, so I credit her presence with their good behavior.  She really rubs off on them.  (Don’t you want to come help with my troop every other week Robyn?)  I got great feedback from the moms who dropped in for the meeting, as well as moms that let me know afterwards how much the girls got out of our working on that badge.  Some of the girls even let me know, they are ready to take that knowledge and make it happen – can’t we please start our businesses?  I know if I let them loose, they will do it too.   I’ve not yet told them the timing of the food drive I’ve committed them to, which is the same time one of them wants to do a market, over the holidays.   I somehow suspect some of them might actually be able to do both, but I may drive their parents crazy in the process…. a compromise may be in order, with their market to be in the spring perhaps?

I love my girl scouts.  Some weeks, yes, I cannot wait to get home and have a glass of wine and decompress from our meetings (There was the time that not only did I forget to drop someone at their house, but I neglected to even shut my car door, in my rush to get home and have a nice glass of wine.)  Some weeks I’m pretty sure none of them regard a word that comes out of my mouth.  But then we have weeks like this past one, where they hug me goodbye and let me know how much I’ve inspired them.  And it makes all the other weeks worth it.