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| 2012 Eagle Badge |
So tonight was the big night. After months of planning, we finally pulled off my Son's Eagle Court of Honor. My Son made Eagle on December 23, 2012, but you have to have a ceremony to wear the badge. Being the highest honor in Scouting and only 2 percent of Scouts ever earn it, the ceremony is for the Eagle recipient alone. I have had the privilege of attending and even being emcee of many of these events. It is always a special occasion and pride seems to abound in the room. This however, was a different thing altogether. To sit a watch as these people esteemed my Son was a thing that should be experienced by all parents. That's really the difference for me, to just be a parent. Not the emcee or the leader. Not to be entrusted with someone else's kid. To just sit back and enjoy the fact that I'm the father of this accomplished young man.
Just a parent? Now there's a concept for you. Just a parent who takes a baby home from the hospital. To realize that every breath that child takes for the next eighteen plus years is your sole responsibility. Just a parent, who endures six months of colic. That's six months of no more that twenty minutes of sleep for those of you who are math challenged. Just a parent praying his Son will do well at school. Hoping that he makes friends and doesn't become one of those kids that doesn't fit in. Just a parent that agrees to go along with this whole "let's be a Cub Scout and go camping" insanity. Just a parent, who sits and studies for a third grade spelling test. Just the parent, who watches his eighth grader go out for the High School Band. Just a parent, that says, "sure Son run for band officer as a freshman". Just the parent that agrees to sleep on the ground at fourteen degrees at winter camp. And the parent that sleeps on the one hundred and four degree scorched Earth of summer camp. Just the parent that sends a fifteen year old on a plane to Boston to compete in a math competition in a society full of terrorist whacks! Just a parent that sees to it that every need his child could possibly have is accounted for.
Maybe parent is the wrong word. Maybe I should just be called proud. That's all I could think of standing up there as my friend pinned my Son with his Eagle badge. Proud that he passed all the test of sixteen years of life. And even more proud that I didn't screw up the first sixteen years of his life. Proud that when it came time to push him, he was up to the task. Proud that so many would come out to honor my boy. Proud that my boy is in rare company. That he will always be known for being the best of the best. To be just a parent is to be justly proud.
