I spent last week at Girl Scout camp. You may think I’m a bit old for that, and some mornings, climbing out of the wooden bunk bed with its plastic mattress, I might agree with you. However, this is my nineteenth year as director of Summer Roundup on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and there’s no other way I’d rather spend the last week of July. Not only is the campground a home away from home, the people I spend the week with are family, and the girls are the future I’m blessed to have a part in creating.
When my daughter wanted to join a local Girl Scout troop, I hesitated. I’d been a Campfire Girl when I was her age, but I wasn’t sure what was involved. I also knew her sister, Katie, would want to join, and then we’d be dragging them to different meetings on different nights with different girls. So I did what I normally do in this type of situation. Instead of signing Rebecca up for the existing troop, I started one of my own that would take girls of all ages.
That summer, Rebecca wanted to go to camp, something I’d never done as a child but always had a curiosity about what it was like. I found out Summer Roundup was an all-volunteer Girl Scout camp, took place less than an hour from home, and needed a few more volunteers. Not only would Rebecca get to experience camp, but so would I!