Monday, January 22, 2007

A Weird Kind of Sorrow

I'm feeling a little down tonight. Not depressed, and not really down, either, I guess. Just feeling sad that a change is about to happen. Tomorrow afternoon will be our last real den meeting -- ever. We do have one final den meeting set, but we wanted to take the boys out to eat as a special treat -- so that is just pure fun and takes no prep time from me.

I've spent about three hours preparing for tomorrow's den meeting. The den leader joke is: only an hour a week and you're done. Yeah, the meetings last an hour and you spend many hours preparing for those meetings. In fact, our meetings last two hours.

It's been fun. I loved the boys. I didn't like all of them, to be honest. There was one I hoped would quit, but he didn't. That's okay. He's nice when he's by himself, he just goes wild with a crowd. I put on a good program for the boys. Thomas enjoyed scouts. He had even more fun at pack meetings. He gets along with kids younger than he is much better than his own-age peers. He also gets along with older kids better. Strange.

There will definitely be a void. This was my thing for since second grade, so not quite four years.
I joined a local organization to help fill the void for me. Thomas has joined the train club. Which, I might add, is working out better than Bob or I could have imagined. There are people of all ages in the club and they all treat Thomas with respect and share his great enthusiasm. They teach him like they would teach an adult -- that part I love. What a confidence booster it is for him. He comes home from every meeting glowing, bouncing, and sharing his experiences 200 words per minute. He's happy. I have my eyes wide open, though, to find something with more kids -- a chance where he can escape his mom and secretly tell poop jokes that I've forbid.

Well, goodbye to scouts. We have our restaurant meeting left, a blue and gold banquet to attend, and finally our cross over.

It went SO fast. Why does time go so fast the older you get?

I enjoyed watching all the tiger cubs at our last meeting. They were so little. My Webelos were so grown up. Blink and it's over. Sigh.

From now on, our Tuesdays will be ours. I won't be interrupting school to put the final touches on our projects, or run to the dollar store for something we need. Tuesdays will be like any other day now.

Sigh.

Thomas is not going on to Boy Scouts. He didn't like it. I didn't, either. New leaders just took over and it's a little chaotic at best. The difference between Cubs and BS is very noticable. I'm okay with his choice.

Sigh, sigh, sigh.

4 comments:

Wisteria said...

I promise the sadness won't last long. I thought I would miss it more, but now I am happy for my Monday nights and all that planning time. My husband is still the Pack Master and Pink Panther did go to Boy Scouts so I get my fair share of Scouting, but I do not miss planning and gathering of supplies or that queasy feeling right before meeting time when I panic worrying if I gathered enough, if I forgot something, or if the activity will fail.

Congratulations for making four years!!

Bobbi said...

Aww Frankie I wish my kids had a great den mom like you! Enjoy your banquets and celebrate what a spectacular job YOU did!

momof3feistykids said...

All the kids are blessed by the love you put into being a den mother. :-) (((Hugs)))

Anonymous said...

I hope once the saddness fades you enjoy all your free time on Tuesday. It was good to read about your son's experience with the Train Club. I like the idea of children participating in multi gererational activities.