Arrow of Light

Wednesday night, we’ll complete the last requirement Liam needs in order to earn his Arrow of Light badge from the Cub Scouts.

I’m pretty proud of him doing this. And yes, it has required a lot of effort on our part, and on the part of his leaders. But he still did the work. We merely suggested – a lot – that he do it. That, and a little record keeping, is all it takes.

He’s also just a few requirements away from earning the Artist pin, which means if he completes that, he’s earned every pin a Webelos Scout can earn.

I’ll be glad for him to be moving on to Boy Scouts, if only for the reason that I always want to spell Webelos with an extra W, as in “Webelows.” I don’t know why, but I catch myself putting that extra letter in there all the time.

Not a lot of scouts earn this badge, so I’m hoping it’ll mean something to Liam when he gets it. Michelle’s already promised to make him a shadow box in which he can display all of his awards. I think he’ll like seeing that on the wall, and it might motivate his younger brother into doing the same when he becomes a scout. (Wow. I may soon be old enough to have two boys in Scouting. Yikes.) And then there’s poor Lexie, who would so be a scout if the whole gender thing weren’t in the way. Not a lot I can do about that.

Then Liam starts all over, on the bottom rung of the Boy Scouts of America. I think he’ll enjoy it. I think I’ll enjoy doing things like scout camp with him, if given the opportunity. He’s a lot like me in that he may not enjoy the social aspects of scouting, but the physical and academic aspects are a lot of fun. He, too may enjoy staring up at the night sky and shouting “I see it, too!” when the leaders point out the constellations. Except he’ll really see them, because he knows where most of them are already. He’s pretty amazing with his memory and his capacity for learning and retaining things.

I guess I’m saying I’m proud of him, and don’t care who knows it.