For Love of the Boy Scouts & Other Such Thoughts
Friday, February 24, 2006
The radio announcer began Friday morning talking about a massage store where he had stopped one day (part of a live advertisement, yes, but he seemed to be enthusiastic on the subject). Apparently he had found one chair in particular, quite amazing, as though he were experiencing a real massage:
“It is not science fiction,” he said in his classical radio drone. “It is totally for real.”
There was something about the Scouts… Every time, the same thing, and it never ceased to amuse Collette and Carrie-Bri. Carrie thought she might find a bumper sticker entitled “I Heart Boy Scouts” and give it to Carrie to add to the other stickers on her cello case.
The Blue & Gold Banquet’s theme that year was “Into the Future” as the boys progressed into Boy Scouts, or something similar to that. Cardboard cutouts of astronauts and planets hung from the stage ceiling and centerpieces artfully crafted of aluminum foil graced each table. Punch and pizzas were served half an hour late from Simple Simons, as some sort of kafuffle had taken place to delay the delivery time.
But soon, there was the usual stampede of boys running up and jumping onto the platform in Scout shirts and badges, to receive awards, blowing kisses to the audience and the like. Frances had been with the color guard that evening, and had a speaking line, carrying a wooden gun painted white over his shoulder.
“He was practicing his lines all the way here,” Carrie told her later. “…I AM AN American!”
He stood up there solidly straight, stern face, completely in the moment and recited his line quite wonderfully. As he marched by the audience to return with the colors, Collette had a sort of flash-forward in her mind of Frances as a young man, in the army at some ceremony perhaps, and they were all present. It left as soon as it came.
And no Boy Scout ceremony was complete without the addition of Indians, face paint, feathers, and headdresses. They all sounded the same when they recited their lines – it never differed from one Scout or Troop to the next. Even the bells on the buckskin had the same tone, always. Frances was among the fifteen who would move to the Boy Scouts in the Arrow of Light ceremony which was conducted without Carrie having to bite her tongue too hard from laughing. Finally, she couldn’t help it, however, and leaned across the table to whisper as controlled-like as possible:
“One of those Indians did his face-paint like ‘Kiss’!”
In Friday’s news, another gold medal was taken for the Americans in women’s skiing and a silver in speed skating. There was also a bronze for the U.S. in men’s curling.
To Collette’s chagrin, OLeif sent her a link that morning to the following article, part of which is excerpted here:
“Remains of the ancient Maya culture, mysteriously destroyed at the height of its reign in the ninth century, have been hidden in the rain forests of Central America for more than 1,000 years. Now, NASA and university scientists are using space-and aircraft-based “remote-sensing” technology to uncover those ruins, using the chemical signature of the civilization’s ancient building materials.”
Where was their sense of adventure? Why make it so easy, she thought. But, alas, she knew it would come to this. Imagine combining archeology with NASA!
Included in Friday’s events was the John Piper “Blazing Center” discussion night for the senior high while the moms headed to the Chocolate Café where Eve worked and the dads went out to Kadesh-barnea’s for chili. Saturday at 8:30am would see CLEP exams for Carrie, Joe, and Rose at Florissant Valley Community College. However, Rose had just come down with a fever. And Collette rather wondered if it was done on purpose to excuse herself from exams.
Meanwhile, Collette was bored at work – an oddity that presented itself from time to time. In fact, the most interesting thing that took place all day was spilling a drop off water on the desk which splattered into a perfect bear’s paw. She was pleased to hear, in addition, that instead of the youth serving Cajun fixings for the Youth Dinner/Auction/Fundraiser, there would most likely be hearty Southern cooking, including fried chicken, biscuits, red beans and rice, and greens. For the kids, there would be real Southern macaroni and cheese in place of the red beans and rice.
And in other realms, Collette thought on the end of the world, Judgment Day, her frustrations with the church in America and around the globe for that matter, prayer and Scripture memory, and five dozen other things which she could not very well put into words.
She almost felt like doing something crazy – driving to Maine or to Yellowstone for three days out of the blue, hiking under the stars of Alaska, or something not so crazy (but crazy for herself) – going to Walgreens and buying a package of mini sharpies in different colors and a little chocolate frosted bundt cake from Quizno’s and biking through the park, and sending Diana a St. Patrick’s Day card (although she wouldn’t get the point, as there was none). Better yet, she would drive up to Wheaton and personally visit this Shechem fellow and find out exactly what he had going on towards her best friend. Who was this guy anyway? Collette had always thought, as a little girl, that she would know her best friend’s honey as well as she knew her best friend, that they would plan her wedding together. That Collette would be there to help her through it all. But the reality of coming through high school, splitting off to college, and growing up made Collette understand over the years that such a thing was not likely to be.
She glanced down at her bear’s paw print. The claw marks had disappeared. She sighed a bit to herself. She wasn’t really sad about it all, growing up. It would be abnormal to keep things as they were, strange. But she promised herself that when Diana’s knight in shining armor did come around, and Carrie’s, and Eve’s, and all the girls… that she would be there; maybe she didn’t even know for what, for sure, but she would be there.
She stacked away the two heavy boxes of books just shipped in from Desiring God. For Easter, the office staff had decided to hand out to each family Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die by John Piper. Collette was already half-way through hers, as she had picked it up early on Thursday.
And so the day continued on, hum-drum.
“Woot!” – OLeif (latest expression)