Today I was reading advertisements for "Summer fun with the girl scouts!" in our subdivision newsletter. It was touting the many different camp offerings which included things like the following: Day and Twilight Camp, Troop Camping, Carousel Camps and Resident Camps for girls during the summer months. It brought back memories of my one and only! Girl Scout camping experience where I spent most of my time seriously itching and scratching almost the entire time.

Why?.......you might ask. I'll save that for later.

Juliette Gordon Low was born in 1860 into a beautiful Regency style house on one of those many scenic squares in Savannah, Georgia to very wealthy parents. Juliette, or "Daisy" as her family and friends called her, had the best background that money could provide.

Her father's family had been early settlers in Georgia and her mother's family had helped settle Chicago, Illinois.

She had excellent schooling and joined her family in becoming a world traveler. Interested in many different subjects, she mastered many and would have been a most interesting person to know.

At the age of 26 she married a wealthy Englishman, William Mackay Low.

Juliette had been hard of hearing in one ear due to frequent ear infections, but tragedy struck on the day of her wedding. Well wishers throwing rice at the newlyweds caused a total loss of hearing in her "good" ear when the eardrum was punctured by a rice kernel.

The marriage did not last and they were separated when William died in 1905.

Juliette was searching for something with which to concentrate her efforts when she met Sir Robert Baden Powell in 1911. He had founded the Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. With his influence, Juliette started the Girl Guides which a year later became the Girl Scouts in America.

In 1912 she invited the first 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia to form a girl's unit. Her thought was to get girls to become engaged in projects which would help them physically, stimulate them mentally and help develop their spirituality.

Building character and leadership skills as well as good values that would also build courage and confidence to meet life head on with those attributes more fully developed was the goal of this new Girl Scout organization.

Juliette Gordon Low died in 1927 of breast cancer but left a lasting legacy. Many honors have been bestowed upon her including a postage stamp, the christening of a ship and other things appropriate to the wonderful work she originated and spent her best efforts to develop.  Her name and the Girl Scouts will forever be linked.

Today there are about 3.7 million members of the Girl Scouts all across the world.

Since my mother was fortunate enough to be a full time stay at home mom, she was willing and able to do all the wonderful things for me and my two brothers that helped us in many ways as we were growing up.

She was a Brownie leader when I was young and a Girl Scout leader as I became older.

My mother did the same for my brothers.  Cub scout leader to boy scout leader, she was always there to make our troops fun and exciting as we were spreading our wings, learning new and different things along with our little friends who were in our various troops.

We earned many a merit badge with my mother accompanying that journey to success.  She made things so much fun that girls from other troops always wanted to be in my mother's troop. 

Naturally my parents thought that I would have a wonderful time at Girl Scout camp. We had looked over the activities and the location was in a wooded area on a lake in Wisconsin. It was a bit of a drive from where we lived.

The excitement built until the day finally arrived. The list of things to take were checked and double checked. Everything was packed for the primitive outdoor stay and this anticipated home away from home camping experience was about to begin!

My parents drove me there and before leaving, we located the tent in which I was to share a cot with a couple of other girls. We were introduced to the adults who would be supervising the activities. The lake looked inviting and since swimming was one of my favorite activities, I could hardly wait to get in the water.

What I did not know at the time was that there was poison ivy in that wooded site. Apparently lots of it, and I am highly allergic.

I remember getting to swim once before I started breaking out with the itchy pustules caused by poison ivy and no longer was I allowed to swim.

Yes, we did get to take turns trying our hand at archery, and we sat around campfires at night roasting marshmellows and singing, but the joy of the camping was tainted by the ever spreading rash and discomfort.

It was hard to sleep at night because of the itching! A couple of days in to the experience which was becoming less and less fun by the hour, I wrote a letter home to my parents to please come and get me and take me back home.

Those were the days before cell phones. By the time the letter had arrived, it was just about time to come and get me anyway.

Horseback riding was not allowed for me because they probably thought that I might infect other girls who might ride next on that same horse. Swimming had already been ruled out for me.

But...........they DID allow my turn at cleaning the outhouse one morning! And they DID allow my turns at washing and drying dishes!

The itching became worse as the rash kept spreading and I could no longer tell which bumps were from mosquito bites or the poison ivy.

Where were my parents? WHEN would they be arriving?? Woe was me!!!

The other girls that had gone to that camp seemed to love it (with the exception of the cleaning of the outhouses in the mornings!) We were assigned turns to clean and mornings were selected as it was still brisk and cold in the early dawn. The smells emanating from that wooden structure with 3 or 4 different sized holes was less distinct at that time of day.

Of course we had indoor plumbing in our home as I am sure most of the other girls also had, so that part of the camping experience was probably an eye opener for most of the girls who were thrust into a more primitive way of living for that week of living in tents and roughing it.

The day my parents FINALLY arrived and I got to go home was one of the happiest days of my Girl Scout camping experience. I thought that the day would never come!

I wonder why they did not broach the subject of my going to camp the following year?

Can any of you top this camping experience?  If so, leave your comments below.  Thanks!