Wood Badge

This post is a little late and I hope I can do it justice. Last month Brett and I went to a 6 day leadership conference/workshop put on by the BSA called Wood Badge. We split up the 6 days over two weekends (thank you Gwen for watching the kids). I was excited to go however, there was also some anxiety because I didn't really know what to expect. Everyone I talked to mentioned making goals, and that I would have the best time ever, there would be moments that I would be laughing hysterically and then there would be other times that tears would be rolling down my face. Now if that doesn't sell something I don't know what does, right? So it was with those feelings I went, and looking back I don't remember when I have had so much fun. It was like I was back at college, I felt like a sponge and I was trying to absorb all the information that they were presenting to us. Brett and I were put in different groups, we saw each other and we were together sometimes but being in different groups I got to be my own person I had to stand on my own feet, I couldn't rely on Brett all the time which was good for me.

The leaders at Wood Badge talked a lot about "tickets" or goals that we needed to make before we left that first weekend. We needed to come up with one big goal and five little goals to help support or help us achieve that one big goal. That scared me more that anything else. It made me look inside, help me to think about me and the things that are most important. I really struggled with this. My whole life I always had the dream to be a wife and mother. I am living that dream on a daily basis, I achieved that dream and I forgot how to dream. It is like a return missionary, they plan their whole lives to go on a mission and then once they have completed that mission they get home and then say "now what?" They have to learn to dream and that can be hard. I shed many tears over my goals, spent a lot of time on my knees asking for guidance, and I was guided. The spirit was so strong while at Wood Badge, even though it is not a church run or sponsored camp the spirit was there, and I was taught by the presenters and most importantly the spirit.

On the last day of Wood Badge, I felt the desire for more, I wanted to stay forever and soak up the feelings that I was experiencing. I was afraid that as I left those feelings and memories would leave. While we were in our last class the staff members were setting up a corridor of American flags that we walked through as we left, the staff members were standing in between the flags saluting us as we left. Rather than a feeling of sadness I felt a feeling of empowerment, a desire to take what I had just experienced and use it in my life and share it with others. Rather than an end Wood Badge became a beginning. I was told that Wood Badge would be a life changing experience, and it has definitely changed my life for the better.

Brett welcoming me into the pack.