Do Your Best

  My brother called last night to fill me in on my mom's condition following her injury.  Somehow, the conversation shifted and we were talking about scouts.  We talked about how rewarding the experience is, albeit somewhat time consuming.  He said he remembered many nights our father would come home from work, change quickly into his uniform and then he was gone...out the door for some meeting or some imminent scout activity.  I never really thought about it before.  I grew up with the scouts as part of my life.  The majority of my early memories involve something to do with scouting.  My parents were both leaders.  All of my brothers were scouts, and two of them achieved eagle.  I think everyone but me was in the Order of the Arrow.  I never knew others lived differently than we did.  Someone was always in a uniform.  In our house, someone was always working on a class or a merit badge.  Some of my first dates were scouts my father brought home to meet me.
  We were raised believing the scout way was the only way.  "That on our honor, we would do our best, to do our duty, to God and our country, and to obey the Scout Law, to help other people at all times, to keep physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight."  Being a girl, my parents tried to get me into Girl Scouting.  I went all the way through the ranks, and had a sash full of merit badges, but it wasn't nearly as much fun as what the boys were doing.  
  And who knows?  Maybe, that's how I ended up in the Army for so many years.  Perhaps fate led me to a place where I could follow a similar foundation to live by.  Maybe, I found this in the Army values (loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and personal courage).   
  Now I am a mother and our youngest is a scout.  Every Morning, since I can remember, I have kissed him on the cheek and told him I love him.  And every morning, as he walks out the door, I yell out, "Do your best" just like I learned when I was young...in our scout family.  And every day, I know he will...do his absolute best.
  Today, I hit another milestone.  As of today, I have walked 602 miles in my journey to 1000 miles in 2011.  And, in an effort to do my best, along with my other exercises, I walked an extra mile and did 50 extra push ups.  I wanted to be able to look at my family and say, Mom did her best today and on her honor, she promises to do her best from now on.