Well it is done. NOW, my son is officially, officially an Eagle Scout. We have all the stuff now. Of course I still haven't gotten the picture of him with the flag. The one they hang in the scout office headquarters of all the eagle scouts. I guess that will happen at Christmas. I can only do so much during a 4 day Thanksgiving break...
I have many more photos than this of the ceremony and such but apparently I have used the maximum amount of storage space for a free blog. Who knew it was even possible. So I am going to have to research next options, something I don't have the energy to do right now, and give you more photos another day. In the mean time you can enjoy a photo of Jake and I after the ceremony with him wearing his official Eagle neckerchief and pin on his left pocket.
It was close but he did it. His project wasn't one of the best they had ever seen, or even in the pretty good category. He did the absolute minimum necessary minus a few minor details. I was biting my nails in the hallway. However, he has displayed the attitude of a scout on more than one occasion which the members of the board had all witnessed and they believed he was worthy of this award. I am not sure I am proud of the job he did becoming an Eagle scout but I am proud of who he has been as a Boy Scout, the man he is becoming and I am certain beyond a doubt that he will bring honor to the rank of Eagle. This is the 100th year of awarding the rank of Eagle Scout for the boy scouts and I watched a nice video about the Eagle award. In it someone talks about the fact that you always say, "I am an Eagle Scout." You never say, "I was an Eagle Scout." It is something that goes with you for ever.
There is still the matter of an official ceremony to bestow this great honor upon him but for the most part we can say now and forever that our son IS an Eagle Scout.
I am officially the mother of an 18 year old Eagle Scout in waiting! And I am exhausted.
He has only been a life scout, the rank before Eagle, for 3 years. Maybe 4. WAY too long to have been turning in paperwork at 10pm the night before his 18th birthday to complete the task. I finally looked at him and said, I know you are purposely waiting until the last minute because you think it is more rock and roll cool. Of course he just looks at me like he has no idea what I am talking about but I know I am right. But, FYI for other almost scouts out there, IT IS NOT COOL!
Anyway, he is done and as I begin to pull myself back together after a VERY tense couple weeks at our house I am proud of my son for seeing scouting through to the end. He really learned so many great life skills in scouting. Not just fun stuff life wilderness survival, cooking over a campfire, tying knots and wood carving but leadership skills, planning, organization. Some of these skills he may not be fully embracing at this point in his life...but he has them, they are part of him and as he grows and the need for them becomes more important in the coming years they will be there for him to draw on and use to succeed. Having watched the process and seen what it takes to become an Eagle scout it is easy for me to see why the rank is so highly regarded.
I would also like to take a moment to acknowledge the scout leaders in our troop (like this is my acceptance speech for his Eagle scout award). They truly walked him down this path. The advancement chair was sending him count down emails over 100 days before his birthday and walked him down every single step of the way. The scoutmaster and assistant both patiently helped him finish up last badges and found time in their schedules to meet with him at the last minutes to finalize things and get needed signatures. They both have Eagle scouts themselves and both have been involved in Jake's scouting since day 1 back in 2nd grade. I think almost every single one of the boys in that little 2nd grade pack have become Eagle scouts. An amazing accomplishment which is really the result of their amazing leadership within the group.
