It’s inevitable.  It doesn’t matter which side of my family you’re talking about – get a few of us together,  and the memorieswill start pouring forth.  Do all families love stories this way?  I can’t remember a single family gathering – small, large, formal, informal, happy, sad, or utterly ordinary – that didn’t involve at least one “remember when?” 

This past Monday my mom had her second cataract surgery, which required a trip to Seattle and someone to drive her home.  Aunt Peggy was kind enough to volunteer, and I tagged along for moral support.  The surgery was relatively quick, and by late morning the four of us (Radar too) were tucked back into Peggy’s Little Red Sportscar ™, boarding the ferry back to Bainbridge Island.  Since I had my tape recorder with me, it seemed the perfect time to interview my mom and aunt about their memories of Scouting. 

“It seems to me,” Peggy said, “the Brownie uniform was one piece, was all brown, short sleeve, like a shirtwaist dress, and then we wore that gold sash.  And we had a little brown tam that we wore on our head.   And I don’t remember much about it, except it was fun.  And we just had a good time.   We had it at Walt Woodward’s house where he was building the boat in the living room.” 

“I went to the other end of the Island,” Mom said.  “I think it was Rolling Bay, to Cheryl Jones’ house.  And I was so impressed because her mother I think was the first woman captain, you know, that could captain a boat in this state.”

“What kinds of things did you do?” I asked.

“I can’t remember what we did,” Peggy said.  “Not as Brownies.  And even as a Girl Scout, I know we worked on badges, but I don’t have any specific memories of that.  I can remember going off to Girl Scout camp when I was in 8th grade, and that was an absolute blast.”

It’s been over half a century since either woman went to camp, but even so the names of three Washington Girl Scout campgrounds – River Ranch, Lyle McLeod, and Robinswold – came easily to the two sisters’ minds.  So, too, did the memories. 

“Swimming and canoing,” Mom said.  “That was my favorite, to go to the waterfront.  And I liked meals because you got to sing after.  And when I went to River Ranch, the kids washed the dishes.”

As I sat down at the computer to write this post, I couldn’t help laughing.  The last time I got online I was surfing Scoutings websites, browsing through whatever the search engines threw at me.  After spending the last two days rushing around, preparing for an out-of-town trip and trying desperately to keep pace with a to-do list that only seems to get longer, what was the first thing I saw upon opening my laptop?

“BE PREPARED.”

I guess that’s a Scouting lesson my procrastinator’s heart has yet to fully embrace, as my still-empty suitcase will attest.  This evening I’ll be boarding a plane to Seattle, heading back to Bainbridge Island, where my mom grew up.  My grandmother’s had a rough few months, medically speaking, so I’m hoping to lend a hand where I can, give my mom and my aunts a bit of a break, and give Grandma a fresh face to talk to.

While I’m there, I’m going to take the opportunity to collect a little history.  One of the tips in the Junior Girl Scout Badge Book says:

Girl Scouts are often very active.  You might belong to a sports team, take art classes, take music lessons, and so on.  The activities that you do outside of Girl Scouting can be used to earn badges.  If you volunteer to take care of younger children during a religious services, for example, you could use it to fulfill a requirement for the “My Community” badge.  If you write a terrific story in school, you could use it for the “Write All About It” badge.  The scales you learn during your piano lesson could help you earn the “Making Music” badge.

For years I’ve been thinking about somehow collecting some of my family’s history, especially my grandmother’s stories.  The woman loves to talk, and every visit with her seems to turn up some new and interesting story.  As time wears on, there is an unspoken but nonetheless growing awareness among my family that someday Grandma will leave us, and those stories will be gone.  With the timing of my visit, and my new determination to take action on some of the cool things rolling around in my head, it seems like the perfect opportunity to dust off the tape recorder.

So!  With that in mind, I turned to the Badgebook.  My visit is going to last for a couple of weeks, during which I’ll be spending time with family, and getting to meet up with a fellow Girl Scout alumna.  I felt fairly confident that some of my already-planned activities would also help me to check off a few badge requirements.

Each badge in the current Junior Girl Scout Badgebook lists ten activities related to the badge’s topic.  Girls must complete six of these to complete the badge.  This is a change from the badge book that was in use when I was a Junior.  In that edition, the number of activities suggested varied, as did the number required to earn the badge.   A few other things have changed, too – the Dabbler badges, which offered an overall exploration of each of five different “Worlds,” no longer exist, and an Adventure Sports badge encourages girls to try out kayaking, windsurfing, and rock climbing.

When I first started to put this project together, I planned to use the same Junior handbook I mentioned in my first entry, along with the “Girl Scout Badges and Signs” from the same time period.

Then and Now

It seemed fitting, considering its part in the germination of this whole thing.  But I forgot take into account that it’s a twenty year old paperback that’s already seen a childhood of cover-to-cover reading.  After only a week and a half of planning it began to show further signs of wear.  Since I want to keep it to reminisce over when I’m old and grey, I’ve decided instead to use the present-day editions of the Junior handbook and Badgebook.  I figure this, too, is fitting – it’s a new adventure, and I’ll have the tool of the time to map out the way.

A look through the Badgebook led me to three badges that parts of my upcoming visit will fit:  Across Generations, On My Way, and Traveler.

The On My Way and Traveler badges both have to do with different aspects of travel.  Some of the activities, like planning a day trip, and visiting a Girl Scout sister in another city, are things I’d already meant to do as a part of my visit.  Others, like documenting a trip through postcards, diary entries, photographs, and videos, will be a fun and interesting extra.

The Across Generations badge focuses on learning from senior citizens, and this is the one I’m particularly looking forward to working on during my visit.  I’m something of an introvert, and while I love hearing people’s stories, I often find it difficult to talk to people.   I’m hoping that this badge, which suggests interviewing seniors about their lives, careers, special hobbies and skills, and Girl Scout history, will give me a little extra dash of courage to start a conversation.

Now I need to go pack my suitcase (I know, I know, be prepared!  Hey, it doesn’t say “be prepared on time.”) but before I go, I just want to mention:  I’m hearing the coolest things already as a result of this project – a couple of people have told me about how they grew up in the Girl Scouts, something I didn’t know about them.  My sister passed the link to this blog on to a friend of hers, who planned to print out my last entry to share with her troop.  One friend liked my idea so much that she’s started a Super Awesome Project of her own, vowing to finally read through a ginormous set of classics her mom collected for her over the years.  I discovered that the same friend spent summers at the same Girl Scout summercamp that my mom worked at decades before.  They’ve never met, but they share a major soft spot for Camp River Ranch and its memories.  It makes me grin, I can’t help it.  It’s so exciting to begin seeing these connections, and to hear other women’s memories of Girl Scouting.  I hope more come along – I’m loving this!