Wednesday, September 08, 2010

It's That Time of Year...

As many of you know, every Labor Day Weekend, I take my girl scout troop camping for three days. We started when the girls were in 1st grade. Now, they are 6th,7th & 8th. And we always have a great time. Always.

This year, we had a couple of new girls. Here's how I know they had a good time.

Me: Did you two have fun?

New Girls: Yes! Your troop is hysterical and very dramatic.

Yes. We had drama. I was running the zip line when one girl came to me and said another was sobbing and I should come quick.

Me: I can't. I'm running the zip line and we have all these people waiting.

Her: You HAVE TO! It's a matter of LIFE & DEATH!

Me: I'm wearing a harness and have one girl dangling by a thread, two - stories up over there.

Her: OMG! (she actually said the letters OMG) She's CRYING!

Me: Well, have her come to me, then.

Her: No. She won't come here.

Me: Where is she?

Her: (points to a spot 5 yards away).

Me: There are two other leaders, you know. Two other leaders who aren't trying to keep girls from falling to their deaths - two completely capable leaders who could help.

Her: FINE! (Huffs away.)

What happened? Remember that game, telephone, where you whisper something to the next person, and they pass it on, etc. until the final phrase is unrecognizable or frighteningly offensive? Well, one girl said something. Another girl overheard it as an insult to another girl and took it upon herself to let said girl know.

They were best friends one hour later.

I am not kidding.

There were other moments of drama too. But that's just par for the course. I remember something we thought was life and death when I was that age in my girl scout troop. One of the girls ate with her mouth open and the rest of us spent weeks agonizing over how to tell her. Of course we handled it maturely - blurting it out during an argument.

You know what the offending girl said? She said, "Thanks for telling me. I never knew I did that."

All in all, everyone had a blast. I ate way too many s'mores (you can't have one girl offer to make one for you and turn down the 13 other girls! That would be just WRONG!). I lost my voice and got no sleep. But it was absolutely perfect. I can't wait for next year.

As for being hysterically funny and overly dramatic...I don't see how you could have one without the other.

The Assassin

4 comments:

krisgils33 said...

wow, you must really like kids (or maybe smores). I went on the kindergarten field trip a few years back. to the zoo. I had one kid who didn't speak any English at all (and English is the only language I can somewhat speak). I had another kid who kept trying to steal people lunches. then my own kid, who acted like I was the plague. i vowed never to be a chaperone again, and I've held steadfast and true to that.

Leslie Langtry said...

I like kids because they like to make more s'mores than they could possibly eat.

Terri Osburn said...

Damn it, Blogger ate my comment. *sigh* I wondered if you get some special leader badge for these trips? Maybe a black label attached to a clear bottle maybe.

I could never do this so kudos to you. In all the paperwork I had to fill out for the school last night, I did agree to chaperone a school dance. I couldn't pass up that kind of opportunity.

Leslie Langtry said...

I agree Terri. How can you pass up the opportunity to embarrass your kid? I'm looking forward to that!