My Junior

Maddie has had a wonderful three years in Girl Scouts.  In large part due to the fantastic troop leaders that she has.  I know that many of her wonderful memories of elementary school will be of these girls who have played such a big part in her many adventures.

Last night she bridged up to Juniors with her friends.  It seems like yesterday that she was a tiny Daisy, then a Brownie and now she has earned her green Junior sash.  I know that many awesome adventures await her in the next few years.

 My baby Daisy in 2010

 Singing her Brownie fly-away song.  Last moment as a Brownie

 Ms Jennifer putting on her Junior Sash

 Ms Donna pinning on her Girl Scout pin

                                       

 "On my honor, I will try to serve God, my country, and to live by the Girl Scout law."

My sweet girl and friend

She is growing up

I know the girls are growing up but every once in awhile I am confronted face-to-face with how much they are growing.  Today was one of those days.

Today was the eight grade formal. The dance that we have talked about for three years.

Destiny was asked by six different boys and thankfully, she opted to just go to the dance and hang out with friends.  It made this Mama's heart breathe a little bit easier.

She has no idea how beautiful she is.  Part of her beauty is that she is unaware of how many heads that she turns.   In every day clothing she is beautiful, dressed up tonight with her hair and makeup done, in a gorgeous but appropriate dress, she was breathtaking.

She was nervous getting out of the car.  Very timid and unsure of herself.  I joked with her that if I looked like she did I would be strutting it for all it was worth.  

She had a wonderful time with her friends.  She slow danced once with a boy (the school obviously felt that more than one slow dance was too many) and spent the rest of the time dancing with friends.  

After the dance, she wanted to go to Steak and Shake with friends and wanted me to go with her to meet her friends mom.  Obviously. I was thrilled that she wasn't too cool to be seen with her mother.  She walked in and every boy's head swiveled, one boy even told her how much he liked her dress.  

She is growing up and there is nothing I can do about it.  

The Black Dress

I looked into the closet for something appropriate to wear, something that would match the occasion.  I held up a shirt, a skirt and nothing looked quite right and then I saw it.

The dress.  The dress that I had hoped I would never wear again.  The one that I had shoved to the back of my closet after I wore it. I last wore it six years ago to my mother-in-law's funeral.  I knew that I would never wear it again in my every day life because it reminded me so much of that day, of that time, of all the pain.

I pulled it out and it fit.   This morning I put the dress on and the dark jewelry and I went to say goodbye to a hero.

1st Lt. Jonathan P. Walsh.  A husband, a father, a son, a brother and a friend.   He died on April 22nd, 2012 in Afghanistan coming to the aid of another platoon when an IED exploded and took his life and the life of another young soldier with him.

His parents are our neighbors.  JP was finishing up school in the two years after we first moved here.  He came and helped Bud move a playset for our girls.  He was handsome and strong and had his whole life in front of him.  He was 28 years old.

It has become easy in the past few years to forget the sacrifices that are being made by our military members.  The dangers that they face.   The hardships and heartaches that their families endure while they are gone.

We were reminded this past week as we saw the pain on his parent's faces, as his brother carried JP's 5 month old son as they walked toward the casket, as one of his platoon members knelt in front of his mother and said again and again, "I am so sorry," and as his wife reached out to accept the flag placed into her arms, "On behalf of a grateful nation...."

I came home this afternoon, exhausted and saddened by the events of the day.  Praying and thinking of his family and what they have lost and what this will mean to them in the future.  I hung the black dress up and once again shoved it to the back of the closet hoping that it will not need to be pulled out again anytime soon.

Maddie's Writing Assignment  09/2011

I love you the yellowest Mom

I love you like the morning sun through the window
and
like the butterfly fluttering by
and
a sunflower in the garden.

I love my mom like the yellow strip in the rainbow
and like the yellow stars.

I love you like the tip of a highlighter and
the inside of a lemon
and
like the moon setting in the morning sky
and
like Dad's GT shirt.

I love my mom like a starfish,
a big smiley face,
a kite in the sky
and your name on a nursing book.

I love my mom because she helps me with everything.