Greeting a Patrol

On Saturday afternoon the Webelos from Pack 310 crossed over to Troop 310. Joaquin wanted to go and meet these new Scouts. He was told ahead of time that they would be in the same patrol.

The ceremony was very powerful, thanks to some lovely words from Mr. Ellis. He is the charter rep for our troop.

After the ceremony there was a light reception outdoors. Joaquin asked to stay for that. We stayed, sat with a mom and her son who crossed over. She was really nice and her son reminded me of my eight year old. She told me about her son and I told her about Joaquin.

At one point Joaquin wanted to leave and then disappeared. He was off playing some game with his troop and came back red faced. He was smiling, "Mom, I introduced myself to another Boy Scout." He was elated that the boy introduced himself back. It was big for him and he went back off to explore. It took all that I had not to cry. My shy boy was off making a friend or two.

When we were leaving I  snapped the picture above. He was actually happy, just ready to get some more water and have a rest. On the way home he asked, "Mom, why are these people all so nice to us?" His voice was shaky, you know how a sweet 10 year old boy sounds when he is about to cry. I just answered, "Sometimes you come across people who are mean or just don't understand you, sometimes you come across people with so much love that is spreads to everyone." He just smiled.