Ah, eight.  Eight is great!  Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate?

Okay, that was kind of random.

First Communion cake – my decorating skills are improving!
Photo by Kay Kauffman

For my kids, eight was a pretty great year.  Both of them participated in the ritual of First Communion at our church and were surrounded by family and friends as they celebrated the holy sacrament for the first time.  Tomcat was privileged to gain two new baby brothers within a month of each other during his eighth year, while Miss Tadpole spent her very first night away at Girl Scout camp.

Such a pretty smile!
Photo by Kay Kauffman

Miss Tadpole attended Camp Tahigwa, the very same camp that I attended myself as an eight-year-old.  I was so excited; I had never been that far away from home before and the brochure made everything look super fun.  With Puppy by my side, I could face anything that camp threw my way.

Except for maybe the tents.  Our tents were up on raised wooden platforms and there were four cots to a tent.  This was perfect, as four girls from my troop went to camp that session.  There was only one problem: Our tent was missing a cot.  We had the requisite number of mattresses, but one cot had two of them.  While we were waiting for an extra cot to be located, I lay down on the cot with the extra mattress.  I felt myself begin to roll toward the side of the tent, so I threw my weight toward the middle, but it was no use.

I rolled right out the side of the tent and hit every possible surface on my way down.

Girl Scouts of the United States of America (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My tent mates panicked.  One girl’s screams could be heard clear across the campground, I found out many years later.  One of the other girls who was there at the same time I rolled out of the tent later moved to my hometown.  It turns out her dad was my neighbor.  We got to talking about Girl Scouts and camp experiences and when I started recalling my tent-rolling escapade, she looked at me and exclaimed, “That was you?!”

Good times.  Great oldies.

I was so excited when Tadpole decided she wanted to join Girl Scouts.  I have many fond memories of my time as a Brownie and a Junior and I’m glad that she will now have some of the same experiences that I had.  I only wish that my time in Girl Scouts had lasted longer.

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