Friday, April 20, 2012

AMERICA’S MOST PRECIOUS CARGO: SCOUTS AND SOLDIERS


Alex is going to Germany this summer with her oldest, bestest friend, visiting my family and the capitol, Berlin. It’s good for kids to travel, see what’s out there and how it compares to home. When she was in tenth grade, she and a fellow Girl Scout friend traveled from New Jersey to Wisconsin, to spend ten days at Camp Ehawee. At that time, my husband and I saved every spare dollar for her college education, cutting our expenses back to the bare bones. But when I read about Camp Ehawee, amidst corn fields and cow pastures, I wanted her to go. What an experience this would be. We live between New York City, Philadelphia, and the Jersey Shore, in one of the most happening and expensive states in the country. Midoro, Wisconsin sounded so dramatically different, even though they had great outings planned: Wisconsin dells water park, Wisconsin state fair, hiking, camp fires, and a sleep-over at the Mall of America!

The girls flew from Newark to Chicago, switched planes to I forgot where, then changed planes again. They ended up in one not much bigger than a crop duster that took them to La Crosse airport. When she returned and told us about the trip, Alex said excitedly: “There were only Girl Scouts and soldiers on that plane. If something would have happened, the whole nation would have done anything to help us, to save America’s most precious cargo!”

As expected, it was one of her greatest trips so far, because the camaraderie between 50 girls from all over America, even Europe, the slow pace of this state, fields that stretched out for miles, and sleeping under the sea horse tank at the mall’s aquarium was something she’ll always remember. I gladly paid for this experience from her college fund.

No comments:

Post a Comment