Happy 100th Birthday, Girl Scouts!

March 12th was the 100th Birthday of Girl Scouting in the United States!! For those of you who somehow don't know this, I have been a Girl Scout for nearly 25 years, and I can easily say Girl Scouting is one of the major reasons I am the woman I am today.

Girl Scouting taught me how to be strong, independent, and brave. My coworker jokingly tells me I am an expert in everything, which is not true, but because of Girl Scouting I can:

• Teach horseback riding
• Climb mountains
• Speak in public
• Teach rock climbing
• Play the guitar
• Lead groups
• Plan an event
• Teach sailing
• Jump in a lake fully clothed just to make kids laugh
• Teach First Aid and CPR Classes
• Be a Lifeguard
• Appreciate service
• Sing a million songs about just about anything at the drop of a hat
• Call dozens of women all over the country my dear friends
• Teach canoeing
• Get away from a charging moose
• Identify TONS of different plants and wildlife, and give random stories and facts about many of them
• Point out constellations and teach astronomy
• Pitch a tent
• Teach kayaking
• Manage a budget
• Sing dozens of Meal Graces
• Cook for and feed a group anywhere from 3-300+
• Build a fire
• Do the Macarena
• Ease homesickness
• Get (and hold) the attention of a group of any size, from a few to many hundreds of people
• Get along with anyone
• Speak in public
• Cross-country ski
• Fill out paperwork
• Organize and play dozens of games with small or large groups with little to no preparation or supplies
• Throw pottery on a wheel
• Sleep ANYWHERE
• Put together an awesome flag ceremony
• Lead nature hikes
• Dress up and be silly
• Cook DELICIOUS food in a dutch oven
• Set and attain goals
• Pull together a skit for any occasion in less than five minutes
• Appreciate and celebrate diversity
• Fill time with something awesome and fun off the top of my head
• Make the world a better place

Not only CAN I do those things, I HAVE. And this is just a small part of a much bigger list. I owe so much of who I am today to the lessons and ideals I have gotten through Girl Scouting, and especially through camp. Yes, I sold cookies, so I understand that part of it, too, but Girl Scouting for me meant much, much more than that.

When I first moved to England, I was 20 years old and I literally knew NO ONE in London. It was right in the middle of the Salt Lake Olympics, and I was terribly homesick. I knew Pax Lodge, a Girl Scout/Girl Guide World Center, was in London, so I decided one weekend to go there and check it out. It was incredible. I instantly felt like I was at home--there were so many amazing people there from all over the world, and having the bond of Girl Scouting meant that I was instantly accepted and included, and we knew we had things in common. They invited me to the Thinking Day celebration later that week (Thinking Day is an international celebration of Girl and Boy Scouts/Girl Guides that takes place in February every year), and it was an amazing experience to join literally thousands of Girl and Boy Scouts from all over the world at Westminster Abbey, singing "It's a Small World" and other songs that virtually everyone knew. Girl Scouting has always been like a second home to me (and literally was a second home for all those years I spent working at camps). I will be forever grateful for the things it taught me and the woman I've become because of Girl Scouting.