The Girl Scout Patches of Life

I think that everyone earns patches everyday.   You know, like girl scout patches. You just don't see them and don't get to sew them onto a sash or a vest.  When  I think of all of the patches that I would have earned , the list is endless:

In my twenties:
- The surviving a hangover every weekend for month straight patch.
- The not sleeping with someone you won't remember  the next day patch
- The crappy Boss patch ( 10x over)
- The overtime patch
- The stupid ex-boyfriend patch..followed by....
- The so glad I didn't marry THAT guy patch

Then in my thirties:


- The only getting two hours of sleep and still being a human being patch
- The finally took a shower in a couple days patch
- The cleaning up barf  patch
- The taking care of a whole sick family patch
- The crazy relatives patch
- The biting my tongue around stupid people patch
- The cooking while kids hang on your leg patch
- The not running away from home when you kids are screaming patch

I was a Girl Scout in one way or another for almost 9 years. I really liked it.  The crafts..the singing... the camping.. the learning and for a while, the friendships. I was a brownie, a junior, a senior and then a part of a mounted horse riding troop. Yes, they have those.

Mrs. Laurie Casey was my girl scout leader for 7 years.  When I was younger I thought she was loud, boisterous, and way to outgoing for me. She was always pushing us and making us do things that at the time were"stupid" and "dorky". We were the troop that sang everywhere. In fact we were invited to sing different places. I think everyone here in Saint Louis knew about Laurie's girls.

It wasn't until I was getting married and she was battling cancer that I realized how much of an impact she had on my life. I sing the songs she taught us all the time. One will randomly jump into my head and then I sing them to my girls. I really wish she was still here to meet my girls and sing the songs with them. They would have loved that.  And every time I start a new craft , I think of all of the crafts we did with her.

 It's weird to me that I find myself  thinking about her more now than I seemed to before. Wanting to show her things and  talk to her about things.  As much as I didn't realize it, she was a big cheerleader of mine and  I will be forever grateful  for that.