Scouts, Fall 2021-Winter 2022

I usually create stand-alone layouts about Trevor's most memorable Scout trips and events, but every once in awhile I like to make a page that combines pictures from meetings, service projects, and trips. This page has eight events on it, including: Scouting for Food, California Coastal and Creek Cleanup, Scout Day at the Food Bank, September 11 flag ceremony at Rush Ranch, fishing at Doran Beach, the December Court of Honor, the lock-in at Rockville, and preparing boxes of food for the hungry. 

Scouts, Fall 2021-Winter 2022 (affiliate link)

I didn't leave much room for journaling, but I tried to cover the basics as best I could. In the case of the Creek Cleanup, I noted that the photo was "before the bee stings..." I know that will be enough to jog our memories even years from now, because it was pretty traumatic. 

We'd been cleaning that same stretch of Dan Wilson Creek annually for years. Each year the job was easier, with far less accumulated trash. Until 2021. It was evident that people had been living along the creek and treating it as their personal garbage dump. We were all sad and frustrated to see the creek that way. One of the Scouts picked up what he thought was an empty pizza box and almost immediately let out a bloodcurdling scream as multiple bees (or wasps - not sure which) stung him. Turns out there was pizza in the box, and a swarm on said pizza. One by one, the Scouts around him started screaming as they were stung. It was a nightmare. I was spared, along with about half the group. Trevor was stung on his ear, but fortunately only stung once. 

We all raided our first aid kits for sting relief. If you don't keep this on hand, both at home and in the car, use this affiliate link to buy Sting Kill immediately. It is very effective at numbing the pain of a sting, easily a million times better than the calamine lotion or baking soda nonsense of my childhood bee stings. Once all the sting victims were suitably numbed and calm, we continued our cleanup and ultimately the event was a success.  

I could have made this negative event a page of its own, but why would I? Trevor's Scouting experience has been 99.9% good. I don't need to make pages about the less pleasant 0.1%. The brief reference in the journaling is enough to jog our memories. Putting 7 positive experiences on the page along with the 1 negative is a more accurate look at his experience than if I'd made a page all about the stings. 

In case anyone wonders, I feel completely different about the page that tells the story of Steve's medical evacuation from a Scout hike. That is the worst Scout-related thing that's ever happened to any of us by far. I needed to tell that story, from my point of view. I need to have that awful thing in our album, just like I need to have this awful thing in our album. Both were traumatic, but both ended well. Both remind me to be grateful for each other, our home, and all our blessings.