He’s back!

The results of a pottery merit badge.

Our son came home today after a week at camp. He came back dirty, tired, and hungry. Right now, he is eating his lunch then I will guide toward the shower and finally I will point him in the direction of his room turn on the ceiling fan and let him sleep for as long as he needs.

They came down from camp a little earlier then we had anticipated and his Dad was still at the office tying up loose ends so the best friends father, who was at camp this week with the boys, offered to bring him home. This saved us a trip to the church to get him. While my son was unloading, his stuff from the truck his dad showed up. Just in time too.

Greg was telling us that both his son and Cody had been nominated for the order of the arrow. Quite an honor and we are so proud of both of them. He then goes onto tell us that how as very angry over something that happened to our son while he was earning a canoing merit badge. Apparently, parts of the badge requirements are that you jump into the lake fully clothed ruining his brand new hiking boots, pull the canoe out of the water and carry it up a hill to its docking station. If a scout feels they need assistance in moving the canoe that is allowed, however that little bit of information seems to have been lost on the instructor who had my son do this task all by himself. My son being stubborn as the day is long, approached the canoe hoisted it up and hauled that thing up the hill and toward the station. The canoe was dropped a few times and he was told, “drop it again no merit badge” by the idiot of an instructor. Not wanting to have soaked his clothes, ruined his hiking boots and not get a merit badge Cody forced himself to get the canoe the rest of the way and into the its docking station with out dropping it again. You might be thinking so what, your son moved a canoe what’s the big deal. Well the big deal is my son is four feet eleven and weighs 106 pounds and the canoe is about 15 feet long and weighs 150 pounds. That is one and a half times his weight. I don’t know many adults let alone 12-year-old boys that can do that. He was very lucky he wasn’t hurt. His dad and I will both be keeping an eye on him to make sure that he didn’t strain a back muscle or hurt his legs or knees as result of his activity. I am angry that they put him in a position where he could have been hurt but so very proud of the fact that he set his mind to a task and did it despite its difficulty, but that’s Cody for you.