May 22, 2011

"Mrs. Morrison!" Brooke shouted. "Eden's trying to rock the boat!"

Audrey sighed, already exasperated with Troop 642's behavior. The canoe trip hadn't even started yet, and too many things had gone wrong already. Audrey had argued endlessly with Brooke's parents and Eden's parents to convince them to let their daughters go on an overnight trip, and then Audrey made the not too bright decision to let her nine year old daughter pack for herself, leading her to forget nearly everything. Now, Eden was misbehaving, and Audrey was still responsible for these three girls for the next twenty four hours. Maybe we shouldn't have done this, Audrey thought to herself.

That was when Audrey remembered why she had planned this trip in the first place. Audrey wanted Sylvie and her friends to do some truly exciting, and even if her troop couldn't raise enough money to travel more than a few miles outside of Clearwater Lake, she could at least create the perfect canoe and camping trip for the girls. It was the sort of childhood experience that Audrey wanted Sylvie to have, and she was glad that she could share it with Eden and Brooke.

"Eden, could you please sit still for a moment?" Audrey asked.

"Okay, Mrs. Morrison," Eden said. The normally fidgety child managed to stay still for a few moments, but she soon got bored and went back to attempting to tip the boat over.

"Eden!" Audrey shouted. "Sylvie and I still need to get into the canoe. Can you please cooperate for one minute?"

Eden went silent, but she did sit still, giving Sylvie enough time to get into the canoe. Finally, all of the girls were on the boat, and Audrey gave them a push and then climbed into the canoe with them. "Which way do we go?" Sylvie asked as she played with her canoe paddle.

"We're going to go that way," Audrey said, pointing northwest. "The Wakeneau River flows out of Clearwater Lake, and the campground that we're going to is on the shores of the river."

"I can't wait to go camping!" Eden exclaimed, bouncing up and down. Much to Audrey's irritation, she was rocking the boat, but Audrey didn't want to lecture Eden again.

"Me neither!" Sylvie shouted.

"I'm glad that you girls are excited," Audrey said, smiling. "We need to row though. Come on, let's row towards the river."

Sylvie, Eden, and Brooke all rowed, but Audrey still felt like she was doing most of the work. She didn't really care though. All she wanted was for the girls to have fun, and they were. As long as her girls were enjoying themselves, that was all that mattered.

Within ten minutes, the canoe had reached the edge of Clearwater Lake. The girls rowed under a bridge and into the waters of the Wakeneau River. The morning sun beat down on the canoe, and after about half an hour, all of the girls were sweaty and tired. "I want to go home," Brooke said.

"Come on, we're halfway there," Audrey said, attempting to stay positive. She kept the canoe moving as Sylvie dipped her toes in the water and Brooke tried to braid Eden's hair. "At this rate, we're never going to get to the campground," Audrey mumbled under her breath. None of the girls seemed to care that the canoe wasn't moving, so Audrey said, "Hey girls, why don't we sing a song while we're rowing!"

"Songs!" Eden exclaimed. "I love songs!"

"I want to sing 'If I Weren't A Girl Scout!'" Brooke suggested.

The girls immediately starting singing about how they would be cannibals if they weren't Girl Scouts, and Audrey considered suggesting a different song. However, she realized that none of the other Girl Scout songs were any less gruesome. At least Troop 642 was rowing now, even if they were doing so to a song about slicing and dicing people up.

Soon, the campground was within site. As soon as Eden saw the "Welcome to Camp Wakeneau" sign, she jumped out of the canoe and doggy paddled towards the campground. "Eden!" Audrey shouted as she reached towards her.

"Mom, relax," Sylvie said. "Eden can swim."

"She can't swim well enough to make it all the way to the campground," Audrey said. She yanked Eden out of the water and into the boat, careful not to tip the canoe over in the process.

Eden pouted and said, "I just wanted to go camping now."

"You have to be patient, Eden," Audrey said. For the second time that day, she regretted taking the girls on this trip. However, there was no turning back now. They were already at the campground.

Eden, Sylvie, Brooke, and Audrey rowed towards the shore, and once she was out of the canoe, Audrey decided to take her phone out of her pocket and take a picture of the three girls. "Cheese!" Audrey said, and Sylvie, Brooke, and Eden all smiled. Audrey snapped a photo of them, and when she looked back at the picture, she saw that it was rather adorable. Her heart warmed when she saw her Girl Scout troop together in a canoe, rowing in perfect harmony with each other. She immediately went onto Facebook and posted the pictures with the caption "Troop 642 Canoe Trip 2011! So proud of my girls!"

Audrey shoved her phone back into her pocket and helped Sylvie, Brooke, and Eden out of the canoe, along with all of their stuff. Once all three girls were on land again, Audrey took a moment to look out over the river. If Audrey got back into that canoe and rowed for an impossibly long time, she would travel through many more lakes and rivers, and eventually, she would reach her hometown, Chief Lake. A part of her longed to see her sisters and her parents there, but at the same time, she loved Clearwater Lake too. As long as she was around her family, Audrey was happy.

"Mom!" Sylvie cried. "We need help setting up the tents!"

"Who cares about the tents?" Eden said. "Let's play tag!" Eden ran towards the woods, and Brooke and Sylvie ran after her.

"Girls, come back here," Audrey said. All of the girls reluctantly obeyed her, and Audrey helped them set up their tent. It was a bit of a challenge getting three third graders to cooperate, but after fifteen minutes, Audrey, Sylvie, Eden, and Brooke managed to pitch a tent.

"Mrs. Morrison, I'm hungry," Brooke said as soon as they were done.

"Me too," Sylvie said.

"Me three!" Eden exclaimed. She giggled, and Audrey concluded that she had to make some food for the girls, lest they starve to death. She dug through the luggage that she had brought with her, and she found some vegetables that the girls could cook for themselves.

"Vegetables, Mom?" Sylvie complained. "Really?"

"We'll have s'mores later," Audrey said. All three girls cheered at the mention of s'mores, so they weren't too disappointed when Audrey gave them vegetables wrapped in foil to place in the campfire.

When they finally ate their lunch, Sylvie, Eden, and Brooke were pleasantly surprised by how tasty their meal was. "These are really good vegetables, Mom!" Sylvie exclaimed, making Audrey smile. All three girls devoured their lunch, and they soon ran off to play. Audrey, of course, had to join them. She may have been a full grown woman, but that didn't mean that she didn't love a good game of tag.

After a long afternoon of playing games and hiking around in the nearby woods, Audrey was exhausted. The kids still had enough energy to make dinner and sing even more gruesome Girl Scout songs, but Audrey felt like she was about to fall asleep as she unwrapped boxes of graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. After the third round of s'mores and the sixth or seventh rendition of a song about a swimmer losing a limb in a shark attack, Audrey told Brooke, Eden, and Sylvie to go to bed.

"But Mom!" Sylvie complained. "We're on a camping trip!"

"It's two hours past your bedtime," Audrey said with a yawn. "Besides, I need my sleep too."

After some additional coaxing, the girls finally returned to their tent, and although it seemed unlikely that they were actually going to sleep anytime soon, they were in their pajamas and ready to curl up in their sleeping bags whenever they got tired, meaning that Audrey could finally get to bed.

"Let me know if any of you need anything," Audrey said as she checked in on her daughter and her friends one last time.

"Goodnight, Mom," Sylvie mumbled as she lay her head on her pillow, sandwiched between Eden and Brooke.

Audrey returned to her own tent, which was right next to the girls'. She crawled into her own sleeping bag, but before she fell asleep, she felt compelled to check Facebook one more time. When she logged into her account, Audrey saw that she had dozens of notifications. Eager to see what all of the fuss was about, she checked her profile, and she noticed that her picture of her troop had received tons of comments. Molly Reinhart and Lisa Falconeri had both liked the picture and commented about how glad they were that their daughters were having fun, and a few other local Girl Scout leaders had commented as well. One comment, however, stood out to Audrey.

It was from the cookie chairwoman from Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes. Audrey sort of knew her from council meetings, but they had only interacted a handful of times. "Hi Audrey!" the message said. "What a cute picture of your girls! Could I suggest this to the rest of the cookie committee as a picture for our cookie boxes?"

Audrey considered the woman's request. As she looked at the picture again, she tried to see whatever it was that the chairwoman saw. After a few minutes, she realized why the council wanted to use the photo that she had taken of her girls on a whim - Audrey had captured three girls of three different races canoeing together, a heartwarming image for a box of cookies. Nevertheless, she wasn't sure how she felt about having pictures of her troop plastered everywhere. How would the Reinharts and the Falconeris feel about this? More importantly, what about Eden, Brooke, and Sylvie?

"I'll think about it and let you know later," Audrey replied, but she suspected that the Reinharts and the Falconeris would say yes. It was a cute picture, after all.

Audrey put her phone away, but she couldn't sleep. There was too much on her mind, and she and the girls still had to row back to Clearwater Lake the next day. Despite all of the madness, Audrey was glad that she had gone on this trip. She had to remind herself that Sylvie would not be a little girl for much longer. Sylvie only had two and a half more years before she was in middle school, and then she would go on to high school and college. That thought scared Audrey, who had already watched her daughter grow from a baby to a rambunctious but lovable nine year old in the blink of an eye. She hated to think that her daughter might not need her for much longer.

Audrey quickly realized that this was a silly thought. She still called her mother every week and visited her when she could - Sylvie would still need her, even when she was all grown up. Time was just flying by too quickly for Audrey's taste.

Audrey was sure of one thing, however. She would cherish the memory of this canoe trip forever.