I read Fred's blog on Friday and thought about an article I recently read about famous people who were Scouts. The list included Lucille Ball, Debbie Reynolds, her daughter Carrie Fischer, Barbara Walters, Reese Witherspoon, Condoleezza Rice (as well as every other female Secretary of State), Blythe Danner, her daughter Gwyneth Paltrow, Taylor Swift, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The list in the article was much longer with equally impressive names.

            I was a Brownie and then a Girl Scout for several years. I really enjoyed my scouting years. The other girls in my troop became my friends. We shared several wonderful experiences together such as camping (an experience I would not have had if not for Girl Scouts), learning new skills and, most notably, learning the importance of giving back.  And yes, the cookies were great with Samoa’s remaining my favorite.

When my own children were of age, I enrolled them each in Brownies. My older daughter’s scout leader quickly became one of my closest friends and her twin girls are still close to my daughter. As for my younger daughter, they needed another leader to form her Brownie troop. Even though I was a single working Mom, and PTA President at the time, I volunteered. I wanted to make sure that my daughter was given the opportunity for the same scouting experience that both myself and her sister was given.

I credit my experience in scouting for giving me many positive building blocks for my personality traits, the desire to give back, the inquisitiveness to try new experiences, and, of course, my love of cookies.

Were you a Scout?  How was your experience?