On the Road

to his eagle scout, Mason is using this summer (or should I more appropriately say, Mason's parents are using this summer) to earn the required merit badges so he can be ever so close to completing that very monumental task. This week he had to complete a project for our family. We used that requirement to get needed fencing around our back yard so Cooper the cocker would stop hanging out with the horses in the vast pasture behind us. It took him about 41/2 hours to complete,including two trips to Home Depot to have the right materials, and cost the family around $100. Money well spent to keep Cooper safe and keep Mason on the road to Eagle.

That memory I have of my mother jumping for joy when her sons completed their eagle? Now I get it. She was relieved to have an extra few hours each week, since it takes about that to push those sons through these projects. Especially in this day of immediate gratification for things that we want, this eagle earning is slow in coming to these boys, and hard for them to see it as even complete-able (Mason said this morning, "even after I spend this whole summer working on this thing I still have more to do! Is it really worth it?")

It is worth it Mason! You are learning that things worth while take a long time, and a lot of work. You are learning to serve and help others, and to work toward being a leader among your family and friends. You are putting stuff you want now (like video time and a dip in the pool) for what you want more (like being a little more like your dad, his brothers and my brothers too. Those men you look up to? Yep, pretty much all of them Eagle Scouts, like you are going to be). You are learning that sometimes we have to do stuff we'd rather not (like tie chicken wire to the back fence) in order to finish things that are important to us and beneficial to others. Good stuff my boy. Good stuff...

Follow us along this road as Mason continues to work toward this worthy goal. I'll try to post his scout accomplishments here as they happen, to let the world know that I am very proud to have a son who is working to become an Eagle Scout.