I heard about the 100th Anniversary Celebration of the LDS Church’s relationship with the Boy Scouts of America a few months ago, and thought it would be fun to go as a troop to the meeting. However, since moving to Utah, it seems that tickets are extremely rare, as they have around 20,000 seats in the place, and typically we only get a couple tickets for the stake to use. So, I went on, thinking to encourage the boys to go to the local broadcast.
At church a couple weeks ago, I heard that our stake has a couple dozen tickets available. I was thrilled and asked for enough tickets to take all our Webelos. I went around and passed out permission slips for each boy and let them know I would plan on leaving early enough to get there on time, but as the day approached, a complication came of not having an additional adult to go with, as my co-leader would not be able to get home early enough. I sent out a text asking if any fathers would be available to go. Then about 15 minutes before we were planning to leave, I had to send out another one, telling them we didn’t have another adult and we wouldn’t be able to go as a troop. One boy still came, a newer addition to our numbers (as he hadn’t been active in scouts until recently), and it really made me sad to tell him he needed to go home since we didn’t have anyone else to go with. His mom sent me a text that he would just go to the stake broadcast with his grandpa.
I still took Ethan and Jeremy. We left to give us plenty of time, as I didn’t know how close our assigned parking lot would be. We got there an hour before it started, and walked the few blocks through downtown, including the shopping area, then got into the building. I can’t remember the last time I saw so many people in scout uniforms. Perhaps the Jamborees that we used to go to when I was in scouts? We got into the building and kept working up, as our seats were in the top section.
The performance was outstanding. The whole program was hosted by a group of teenage boys, dressed as boy scouts through the century. They sang songs and acted out scenes, with many other scouts (possibly hundreds) assisting with the acting and songs. They also gave everybody a phone number to text to count how many people participated, and said it would be available online. Once home, I pulled up the “Mom, You Earned Your Eagle” song to play for Rebecca, which was a tribute to mothers and the hard work they put into their scouts’ achievements. Overall, I think the highlight was being in the conference center when President Monson spoke. I had no idea how much he has been involved in the scouting program, and it really makes me want to try harder in my role as leader, and in our boys’ lives.
After the celebration was over and we left, the boys were hungry so we stopped by the food court across the street, in the mall. Ethan chose pizza from Sbarro’s, and Jeremy picked a footlong from Subway. Ethan only ate 1 1/2 slices, but Jeremy finished the entire footlong by himself! I knew the boy was growing. He’s almost 8, not quite in scouts officially, but he still loved the chance to go.
