Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Wars and Family

10:00 AM | Posted by Heather | | Edit Post

A lot of you know that I have a HUGE extended family...cousins galore and they all live in Southern California. We all grew up together. And well, when you grow up together, you fight and you get sick of each other. I will be honest that I was sick of my big family when we left California. Most days, I would curse the stars at all the family drama. But after we moved to NC, almost immediately, I missed them. I still miss them a lot. I miss weird things like the noise...the noise level at some of our family gatherings was through the roof! I miss seeing them and being close to them and have come to realize how much I took them for granted. It hit me like a ton of bricks recently and it all started after walking out of a meeting. I felt intimidated, nervous and a little sick to my stomach. Did I just listen to some gory doctor’s review of an illness you ask? Nope, I just learned all the rules and expectations of selling Girl Scout cookies. The thing is, I was a Girl Scout…granted it was over 30 years ago but I still have very fond memories of earning patches, helping the community and yes even selling cookies. So when I was asked if I wanted to serve as an Assistant Leader, I thought it would be fun and a great way to interact with my daughter. But SO much has changed over those 30 years. Not only are the super cute Brownie dresses and beanie hats gone (they wear either a vest or a tunic now) but there are so many rules, forms, regulations that it is mind numbing.  The worst part though is the intense competition that selling cookies now entails. The girls are required to set goals for themselves as well as an overall troop goal. When they mentioned the “recommended” goals, I literally laughed out loud. But then I learned-the hard way-and to quote our fearless leader, “you do NOT disrespect the cookie”.  And while my head was still whirling, somehow the goal had been set. My daughter is expected to meet those goals. Next topic, cookie booths, this is when I should have left and never looked back. Apparently, the competition for a prime spot and time for a cookie booth is so intense that it requires our leader waking at 6 am and logging into the network so we won’t be left out. You are in no way allowed to sell at a booth without Council approval. I know it is shameful but all I could think was, well at least it’s not me that is in charge of that one. My job was to attend the cookie rally and collect the order forms so that the girls could start selling cookies FIRST thing Saturday morning before they were beat out…I managed to do that. But then Saturday morning, I woke up ill (for real this time) and stalled sipping my coffee before heading out. All of a sudden, my daughter came into the kitchen with tears streaming down her face because she had just seen another Girl Scout knocking on doors across the street. Ok, so I have to say this is not FUNdraising anymore, it is all about who can sell the most and well I apparently suck. Why do we have to turn everything into a competition? Why must it have to be a Cookie War? I was really depressed thinking, there is NO way, we are going to hit Kayla’s goal…so I reached out to my family in Cali and new family here in NC. One cousin says, “hey send me the form”, another says, “we want to buy a lot!” So I send out forms to everyone who asked and next thing I know, I have orders for 8, 10 even 48 boxes at a time—all from my family. So important lesson for me, in times of war, you really can turn to your family. We have not only met Kayla’s goal, we have surpassed it. And now instead of cursing the stars, I humbly, thank the stars for giving me such an amazing family not only in California but a new one here as well. 

April Copel, Guest Blogger 
www.johnstonmommies.com
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