Last week our middle son Hunter went away to boy scout camp. He was gone for six days. Six days of independence for an almost eleven-year old--yikes! Needless to say, he was excited about being away with the older boys and the scout leaders.
We went up to visit him the evening before the last day of camp for "Family Night". It was a rainy day and all of the scouts were gathered under a pavilion outside of the dining hall. I anxiously scanned through all of the faces in uniform trying to make out my son so that I could hug him. I hadn't realized until that moment how much I missed having him home. My eyes finally landed on his face, he was chatting it up with the other boys, ball cap turned backwards. He hadn't seen us yet.
After a couple of minutes, he looks over at me, then looks at Ross. Immediately he turns his baseball cap forward, and comes over to greet us. Once we reunited I realized the impact that his dad, my husband, has on him. He knows that Dad does not allow him and his brother to wear their caps backwards. It's just how he rolls. As a teacher and coach he knows that impressions are important. So to see Hunter do an about face when Dad rolled on the scene was pretty cool. It demonstrated his submission to Ross's authority over the independence that he was enjoying away from home. In other words, 'Scout camp is over and boot camp is about to begin!'
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