Back in October, my oldest, Lucy
decided that she wanted to give Girl Scouts a try. What attracted her to the
notion, I am not sure, but she got it in her head that Girl Scouts was going to
be the thing for her. Being a child who thought Girl Scouts was nothing but a
group of clicky nerds, I was not anxious to sign her up. I avoided finding a
troop for Lucy for nearly two months before her incessant nagging forced me to
act. Eventually, I found a troop two minutes from our house and we began
attending meetings. Before I knew it we were crafting, hiking, and selling
cookies with a vengeance.
Lucy has been having the time of
her life making new friends and earning badges, which I regularly have the joy
of ironing on her Brownie vest, while up until recently, and the arrival of a
couple of new mothers, I have struggled to make small talk with the other
parents and adopt the positive attitude toward group activities promoted by the
Girls Scouts and Lucy’s troop leaders.
You see, it is common knowledge
that I neither like to nor am I good at playing well with others. This glaring
personality trait often leaves me on the outside of large social circles, a
loner due to my inability to tolerate the inefficiency, drama, and heap of
steaming crap that almost always are inherent in group relationships. I have learned over the years not to subject
myself to large social circles and activities involving groups. It is, quite
frankly better for everyone involved that I stick to my small social circle and
myself. Girls Scouts, however, has not allowed me the solidarity that I am so
comfortable with and has left me on more than one occasion miserable.
Lucy’s troop sold enough cookies
this year that they earned a trip to LEGOLAND. Her troop leaders, the girls,
and many of the parents found this news exciting. I almost immediately began
dreading a group trip to a theme park, and on a Saturday no less. As the days
went by and the discussions around the logistics of the trip became more and
more detailed, I began looking for every excuse under the sun why we couldn’t
and shouldn’t go and verbally expressed my concerns to Lucy. Lucy, however,
would not be swayed.
Therefore, this morning we set off
for LEGOLAND, with my anti-anxiety pills in my bag. The trip was everything I
imagined it would be. A complete cluster-fuck, in which Lucy ended up melting
down after an hour because of the rigidity of the rules involved. The most
annoying of which were the inability to separate from the large group of 13
girls and their parents, and the troop leaders insistence that the girls spend
every waking moment with the buddies they were assigned, not those they would
have chosen themselves. After 3.5 hours with a total of 4 rides and one show
under our belt even Lucy had had enough. We opted instead for lunch outside the
park and a relaxing evening at home.
I was once again reminded that
playing with others only brings me misery and that not even my anti-anxiety
pills can take the edge off.
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