I Promise...

I joined Girl Guides as a Brownie in 1980. I was in Grade 1. I loved taking my brown dress to school with me to put on for our meeting after school. I loved earning badges that my mother would dilegently sew onto the arms of my dress (then remove and sew onto a new dress when I outgrew my first one!) I loved playing games and doing crafts. I loved learning new songs and about other countries.

As I grew up, I went through Brownies, Guides, and then Pathfinders. I loved learning how to tie knots and build a shelter; how to waterproof my bedroll, pitch a tent and fold a flag; how to build a campfire and how to survive if lost; how to make a pancake over a fire with a tin can and how to leave a place better than I found it; how to work as a team and how to be a good leader.... Girl Guides was so very much a part of my childhood and adolescence.

It brought tears to my eyes to see my little girl promise to "share and be a friend" during her Sparks enrollment last night. Abby loves Sparks. She'll be a Spark for 2 years, then move to Brownies.

Abby and a fellow Spark reciting their promise together.

As part of their enrollment the girls each unfurled different coloured streamers to make a rainbow.

Abby is soooo proud to be an official Spark. She's holding her first "keepers". In Sparks they earn badges (keepers) as a group. I guess now it's my turn to sew on badges :)