Family Night at Boy Scout camp

I'll recap our week in Chicago soon. I wanted to make a quick post about The Boy. He spent the majority of the summer at summer camp (and he's still there) as the Ecology/Conservation Director of Boy Scout camp. Each Friday is family night, and I got a phone call from a friend of his a few weeks ago asking us to come to family night this past Friday. The Boy was going to be called out as Vigil for Order of the Arrow, which is the highest level of Brotherhood (since I'm not a member, I have a hard time explaining this, obviously.) 'Sparky' asked me to keep it a secret because The Boy had no idea he was to be called out. As it turns out, my mom and sister were able to join us. The Man drove there from work, since his work is halfway from home to camp. We met there and had dinner in the dining hall. I called the boy on his cell and asked him what he was doing. He told me he was in his area cleaning it. I told him I had a surprise for him, so could he please meet me by the dining hall. He got so excited and said, "You're here? Can you stay awhile? I can't leave here until I have it all cleaned and ready to close!" I assured him that I didn't drive for 2 hours to call him and then leave without seeing him. ;)

While we were waiting, I talked to a couple of young boys who were camping and asked them to tell me about their week. (I had camped with our troop a couple of times, once with The Man as the co-leader, and once with a couple of other co-leaders. The Man has camped with our troop many times as a co-leader.) I asked them their favorite parts, etc. One was talking about 'Cyclops' and how much fun he had in Eco-Con with 'Cyclops'. He told me that he was at Eco-Con earlier listening to The Doors with Cyclops, just hanging out. I smiled and said, "Well, I'm Cyclops' mom and this is his dad, aunt, and grandmother." His eyes got huge and he smiled and said, "Cyclops is so cool!" LOL

So, about 45 minutes later, my cell rang and it was The Boy asking where I was. I told him that I was waiting by the dining hall and he told me he was on his way down. He got there and gave me a HUGE hug and I said, "Ok...now for the surprise! Come with me!" and I took him to where his dad, my sister, and mom were. He was so happy! He said, "Will you stay for the ceremony? I'm in it." Not wanting to let on that that was why we were there, we just looked at each other, shrugged and said, "Ok! Sounds good!" So, we visited for awhile and then the Boy Scouts were marching down the hill, so he jumped into the line and went on with them. After the campfire ceremony, they had the OA ceremony. I'm not sure what his character was called, but he was one of the main guys. His costume was a bit scary. :)

At the end of the ceremony, the Chief said something like, 'would Brother :insert the boy's name: come forward...' Then he tapped him HARD three times on the shoulder, to which The Boy responded by tapped him three times HARD on his shoulder. I got verklempt. I had goosebumps, tears, you name it because...I'm a hot mess most of the time!

After the ceremony, we went to the OA circle and took pictures, gave hugs, said our goodbyes, etc.

Oh...and on Saturday, he sent us a text saying that he won area of the summer! We are so very proud of our boy!


Proud Papa and The Boy


Proud parents and The Boy


The Boy in his ceremonial attire with his Vigil arrow (which is a REAL arrow and The Man wouldn't let me touch it because I'm a known klutz!)

It's so amazing to watch your child enjoying life to the fullest!