The Eagle Has Landed



Eagle Scout Alec
(photo by Rob Byron)

We've been worrying about this day for a long time.  There were letters to write, invitations to send, speakers to line up, decorations and memorabilia to locate, food to prepare, rooms to reserve, and pictures to find.  All within the guidelines of proper protocol and regimen, with due pomp and circumstance.  You see, Alec earned his Eagle Scout Rank back in early December, and today he was officially awarded the medal, pins and certificates through his very own, parent-planned, Eagle Court of Honor.

For those unfamiliar with scouting, the true purpose of the Eagle Court of Honor is to make parents feel the pain of all the hard work their son had to go through in order to earn his Eagle Award.  It's also effectively designed to punish parents who do not follow the Boy Scout Motto of "Be Prepared."  And finally, it reveals a lesser known subtext to the Boy Scout Slogan of "Do A Good Turn Daily" by forcing guilty parents, who don't really know how to adequately honor their own son, to "Do A Few Turns Nightly."

Now, please understand, we're very proud of Alec.  We know that this honor will carry with him the rest of his life, and will open doors of opportunity for him.  We also know that the traits of his character that drove him to achieve this honor are the very same traits that will lead him to great accomplishments in life.  Of this we have no doubt.

But when it comes to following true scouting protocol, Christy and I just aren't very good at this stuff.  We really had no idea how to pull this off.  What's the difference between an Eagle Challenge and an Eagle Charge?  Who should present the award?  Who should speak?  Is it proper to schedule this on Super Bowl Weekend? 

Thankfully, we got some help from the internet, and some parents who had been there before.  Then we enlisted the help of family and friends to bring it all together.  Abbie played the piano, Maya led the music, Evan handled the presentation of colors, Grandma Peggy gave the invocation, Justin and I read the letters of commendation, and Christy does what Christy does best - she made sweet things to eat at the end.  That's sort of our go-to back up plan.  When all else fails, give them sugar, and they will forget that you didn't know what you were doing.



Alec's Grandfather Offers Keynote
(Photo by Rob Byron)

 We scored well on a few points.  My father was the keynote, and he did not hide his pride in Alec.  We also made a little video montage of Alec's scouting career and set it to music.  After a few false starts with "Climb Every Mountain", "Shining Star", and "A Moment Like This", we settled into a groove with "Fly Like An Eagle."  Scott Despain did an excellent job explaining the Path To Eagle, and I hear he's available to take that show on the road for a small fee.  Mark Mackelprang tackled the Eagle Challenge well, and Kent Gray made it clear how much he appreciated having Alec in his troop when he presented him with the actual award.  And finally, good Bishop Council gave Alec some good Bishop's counsel.

So, where did we blow it?  Well, you can start with the fact that a camera malfunction meant we had no pictures of his actual Eagle project.  We're thinking when the kids get married, we should probably look into one of those photographer people - just in case my camera phone doesn't work.  And I didn't get a letter of commendation from George Bush or the guy from Dirty Jobs in time.  And we couldn't find his Pine Wood Derby cars (see previous post on the legendary Magic School Bus, without which it just didn't feel right.)

But, all in all, I think we managed to pull it off, although, secretly, I'm glad we only have one more son who could earn the honor.  I have an idea, though.  When it comes time for Evan to select a project for his Eagle, I think he should just plan his Court of Honor.  That would be the greatest act of service I've ever seen.

If not, then hopefully next time, we'll Be Prepared!

Last Of The Single Digits

Yesterday was Maya's 9th birthday.  For being the youngest of our five children, she's certainly not shy about setting the proper expectations on how her birthday should be executed.  Her preferred agenda included pancakes for breakfast, and then I was to join her at school for lunch with a Happy Meal in hand and the cupcakes that Christy was to make for all of her classmates and teachers.  Then Christy would pick her up after school and take her directly to Build-A-Bear, where they would use a Build-A-Bear coupon to build a Build-A-Bear bear.  Upon returning home with said bear, there would be a dinner party, with family and friends, the menu of which would consist of Christy's famous homemade chicken pockets and side dishes of salad and/or fruit, which Maya could elect to opt out of at her discretion.  We would then open the "PRESENTS (DUH!)", which is the precise wording Maya used on her prepared agenda for the day.  Then would come the fancy six-layer birthday cake, prepared by cake ace Christy, that would be enjoyed by all with a scoop of ice cream.  Maya would then elect to stay up later than her usual bed time so she could enjoy her new gifts, and bask in the general glow of birthday-dom.

That was the agenda.  Thankfully for us, everything went like clockwork, and the birthday was a success!  This allowed us all to have a happy birthday, and relax knowing that Maya's wishes were granted.  Not that we're afraid of her or anything like that.  Don't be silly.  We have just found over the past nine years that life is much simpler when Maya's expectations are satisfied.  Really, though, we're not afraid of her.  Why do you keep thinking that?

And as the day wound down, and we had a moment to reflect, it occurred to us that this was the final year of our last single-digit kid.  We have but one more year to say to the world that we are parents of a child whose age is but one digit.  For nearly twenty years, we've always been able to make that claim.  It's kept us feeling young, and appearing young to new acquaintances.  But those days are numbered now.  Three hundred and sixty-four, if anyone is counting.  Then, all of our children will have two digits in their ages, and that is how it will be the rest of our lives.

This means something.  We can stop our kids from creating messes, punching each other in the face, making dumb mistakes and a host of other unwanted actions.  But, we can't stop them from this -- from growing older.  And that's the thing we wish we could stop most of all.

So for now, we'll relish these times and appreciate them for what they are - the best times of our lives up to now.  As each moment is perished a memory is cherished.  And as Christy said last night, for the next year we'll tell as many people as we can that we have, among our five children, one who is merely nine years old.  Why, she's just a babe.  Just a cute little kid.  A kid who, as we said, really acts more like a teen sometimes.  A mere child who lays down the law, and who makes her wishes known, and expects things to be done a certain way.  And when we do them right, like we seemed to do for her birthday yesterday, life is good, happy and wonderful.

Yes, we can relax now.

Did we mention to you that we’re not afraid of her?