The first one down

This past weekend, a high school friend got married in eastern PA. She is the first in our girl scout troop to get married so it is kind of bittersweet. Some of us from the troop carpooled over there to attend the ceremony and reception.


Aren't we cute? (One of our troop leaders borrowed the sign from a neighbor's yard.)

It was (and still is!) a wild and crazy bunch. We broke all of the traditional stereotypes about girl scouts. Camping, pshaw! Our style was more like renting a house for a week down on the Outer Banks. Quiet and demure, hahahahahahahahahahahaha! Yeah, right! Cookies, well . . . ok, we still sold cookies. Our leaders encouraged us to aim high and we definitely did. The entire troop earned the Gold Award which is equivalent to being an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts. It was completely unheard of for an entire troop to earn this award. Before us, hardly any girls in our town earned the Gold Award. Most dropped out by the time they hit high school. Definitely not us. We planned big and worked our butts off to be able to make our goals. During freshman year of high school we planned a 3 day trip to Chicago complete with plane tickets, hostel reservations, and a very full itinerary. I'll never forget the amount of walking on that trip!

Another thing I will never forget is our troop being told that one day we might be able to plan an overnight trip to the girl scout campground. The "helpful"/condescending person on council who gave us that advice obviously underestimated us. We had been planning our own trips since middle school to many more exotic places and for much longer periods of time. I think the experience definitely made us more mature and responsible.

One of the leaders just started a fun tradition. She took a handkerchief and stitched all of our names on it in gold. She will stitch each person's marriage date below their name. On the top of the square she wrote "One is silver" and on the bottom "the other is gold." Each person is going to pin the handkerchief under the skirt of their dress.

While we were in eastern PA, I took the opportunity to see a college friend who lives in the area. She has been in Washington (the state) and Alaska the past two years so it was great to have the chance to catch up. I loved seeing her pictures and showing her mine. Hearing stories in person can be so much better than by email! I'll post a picture of us two when my camera gets back to this state. Mom borrowed it to use while she is researching family history this week.