Follow
In 30 plus years of Scouting this past Saturday was particularly meaningful.
My wife and I were invited to the wedding of one of the men she calls ‘our boys’. Andy worked with me on camp staff and worked for me when I was a camp director nearly twenty years ago. There’s something to the friendships we forged as camp staff members that remains lasting and important.
Andy asked me to be one of the readers at his wedding. We sat with ‘our boys’ during the ceremony and they stifled a laugh when I managed to brush the microphone rather loudly with the paper I read from.
At the reception we almost all fit around one table. I listened to all of the news and thought back to when they were just teenagers at camp. I was so pleased to hear of their work and their lives and to see them happy.
Teachers, writers, engineers, businessmen, and public servants; one was off to Philmont the next day to train for his new role as our O.A. lodge adviser, one was on respite from his state department post in the middle east, one was visiting from his work with the Army Corps of Engineers. They’ve chosen wonderful partners and many of them have children of their own.
Although we see each other infrequently the easygoing bond of fellowship remains strong. I can only hope each of us are blessed to know such good men who carry forward the good things that they gained as Scouts.
That is all the thanks a Scouter needs…to hear first hand from the youth he/she worked with about their paths in life and success. Good on ya Clarke!
This sounds like one of the “paydays” that Rice Cochran described in his book “Be Prepared”. I can now follow some of my scouts through their college days on mediums like Facebook. But a meeting like this is priceless. Enjoy.
🙂
The reward for years of dedication!