July 2, 2013
-
On Thursday, I took Spencer up to Saukenauk for family night to watch the campfire skits and the OA tapout ceremony with my dad. It was a great night and everything went off without a hitch. After about 25 tapouts (there were 40 that night!) Spencer told me he had to go to the bathroom. Figuring we had both seen enough, we planned to use the one in the dining hall before heading off to the trading post for ice cream and hitting the road. After hiking up the hill and making our way through the classic double swinging screen doors, that instantly recognizable Saukenauk dining hall smell hit us both in the face. As we made our way down the center aisle past all the neatly arranged table-waited tables, I glanced to the side and saw something that took my breath and stopped my heart for just a second:
And for the tiniest length of time a human brain can register, I was a scout again. At Saukenauk. With my troop. And then it was gone. But the memories remain and always will. Have a happy and safe Fourth of July.
