Oh, Belay Can You See

[Editor's note: Today is Day Eight of Lent and Day Eight for the author without her triple decaf grande latté. If you happen to live within a 100-mile radius and want or need anything from her, wear a helmet when asking lest she knock you up side the head.]

My Girl Scout troop and another Girl Scout troop are planning a trip to Savannah in June. Savannah is the Birthplace of Girl Scouts, home to Juliette Gordon Low. To help the girls get to know girls in the other troop, we've been doing several activities together this year such as a camping trip back in September and a pre-New Years slumber party on December 30th. Our next joint event will be rock climbing at a local rock climbing gym.

To keep the cost down, we decided to use our own belayers rather than the gym's. The other troop leader is already belay certified. She suggested having my two teenage daughters trained so they can take the test to be certified. So last night she lugged over several ropes and harnesses and biners to my house to teach them the basic knots.

The elder daughter had no problem with the knots or the harness and picked up everything very quickly. The younger one was not focused at all. She couldn't get the knots down between text messaging her friends. The other troop leader finally took her phone away from her. Good move. All this was going on around me while I sat in my comfy chair with my laptop delicately answering emails from parents in my troop about the troop finances and fundraising for the Savannah trip.

After the other troop leader left, the younger daughter told me she was very cold. Hand to forehead, Oh My God, she was burning up. That explains why her face was flushed. She complained of a headache and sore throat and woke up this morning with a nasty cough. Sounds like the flu. Although strep throat is going around.

Good thing I osmosed all the information about belaying. I'll take the certification test since I doubt my daughter would be able to look up at the climber without keeling over on the mat. Instead of her yelling back "Climb on", someone on the ground would be yelling "Timber!"