19 Cookie Time!

Grandma makes exploring and playing in the wild places extra, extra fun.

She told me she’s an old Girl Scout who first learned about the outdoors on a camping trip as a junior Scout. Her troop met other girls atop Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland. An unexpected snowfall trapped them up there for an extra day. While the other girls cried to go home, Grandma giggled at the exciting adventure.

“You know that ‘Petey Lullaby’ song I made up? I learned to do that in Girl Scouts. We would sing around the campfire.” She began to sing, “Make new friends, but keep the old…”

Grandma was in Girl Scouts from Brownies all the way up to an assistant Girl Scout leader. So, this time of year, when Girl Scouts are selling cookies, she makes sure to buy a box and encourage the girls. Yesterday, another woman identified herself as an old Girl Scout while Grandma was paying for her cookies. The two grandmas compared notes on selling cookies door-to-door back in the day.

She was telling me about this after we arrived home, sharing a little about her childhood. It was hard to believe she had a life before me, but she insisted that was true.

“Girl Scouts was my moral compass,” she said, “teaching me right from wrong.” She stood before the bathroom mirror, holding up her right hand with three fingers up, trying to recite a poem.

“What are you trying to say?” I asked.

“The Girl Scout Promise,” she answered, headed for her laptop. “Here it is!”

Grandma read out loud.

“On my honor I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law“

“And the Girl Scout Law says this, Petey:

“I will do my best to be
Honest and fair
Friendly and helpful
Considerate and caring
Courageous and strong and responsible
For what I say and do
Respect myself and others
Respect authority
Use resources wisely
Make the world a better place
And be a sister to every Girl Scout.”

“I forgot how important these words were to me back then,” she said, wiping her eyes.

I asked, “Is that why you buy those cookies?”

“Yes,” she said. “I want to support a girl having as meaningful an experience as I did in Girl Scouts.”

“Who gets the cookies?” I asked, licking my lips.

“I’ll find someone to give them to. Thin Mints are quite popular. I used to sell cases of them,” she laughed. “Once, when I was in college, I was the top seller in our area. The guys loved them!”

“Who can say, ‘No’ to Girl Scout cookies?” I teased her.

“Exactly!”

I got a good ear scratching for that one!