I am very sad to see that this blog has not taken off better. I thought it would. I am also pretty upset with myself because I gave myself an "out" by inviting lots of other folks to participate who obviously have not. And neither have I. Foreshame!

It is sad, really, because I have had so many good experiences, but life has been busy and it was easier to rant about the teachers nailed for bullying the autistic kid. Is that what is wrong with our society today? We are too focused on the negative?

Well, I don't want to be! I want to look at the good, the bright, the positives! Am I really too busy to share those with others? Not anymore. With or without the help of others, I will continue to write on this blog. (Though, if you would like to help, I would really appreciate it!!)

My bright story that I want to share today is about one of my Cub Scouts. Jon is African American/ Mexican American and he is the sweetest, funniest kid I have ever had the privilege of meeting.  He joined our scout pack  at the beginning of the year as part of our school drive. Coming in as a Webelo, Jon was thrown into a culture that he didn't know, and expected to achieve in a system completely foreign to him. Most of our Webelos who join at this age never achieve rank advancement before they move into Boy Scouts. But not Jon.

In March, on his 11th birthday, I had the honor of awarding Jon his Webelos badge and several activities badges.

The kid loved coming to scouts for the activities, but at Christmas time when I sat down with him and his mom and explained what he needed to do before his birthday and how it was gonna be tough, he said that it was okay because he wanted to do it. He knuckled down, spent so many days pushing to finish everything that most kids accomplish in two years, in only a matter of months. It sort of took the fun out of scouts, (at least for me. You can only do so many fun science experiments, clean up the mess, and then do another one before the cleaning up becomes tedious ;) )but he wanted that rank advancement.

It was with a proud, but sad, heart that in March I passed Jon off to his Boy Scout leader. Proud because I knew that he would achieve just as well in Boy Scouts, sad because I was gonna really miss him. I have been doing scouts for almost four years now and have passed a lot of boys on to boy scouts and they all swear they will come back and see us. Most never do. Some wave and say hi on their way to their boy scout meetings, but that is all we get.

Jon came to cub scouts yesterday after our meeting "just to say hi". I figured maybe he had come to get a treat, but he declined and then sat there with me talking about everything they were doing in boy scouts and how excited he was. He told me he missed me and wanted us to hang out. (By us he meant me and my kids come hang out with him and his mom.)

It was great to know that he was achieving just as well in a new system with new leaders, but it warmed my heart that he missed me (and my kids) and that he cared enough to let us know that he missed us and appreciated what we had done to help him achieve his rank advancement. I am looking forward to hanging out with this kid more often!