Ben has been gone for the past week at Boy Scout camp. When I picked him up this morning he looked tan and healthy and stood a bit taller than he did when we dropped him off last weekend. There is something about an all male environment, eating what you're served, sleeping in a tent and spending 100% of your days and night outdoors that makes a boy look a bit more like a man.
Today was monumental for Ben because he will turn twelve years old tomorrow and now weighs 100 pounds. To Ben, that meant one thing...the ability to sit in the front of the van with Mom. No more having to argue with his brother and sisters for the prime seating location in the back. Nope, he is a big guy now and was smiling from ear to ear when I told him to hop up front.
On the drive home, Ben shared all that he had done at camp. He mentioned some achievements such as catching his first fish, taking it off the hook by himself, hitting the bulls eye a number of times on the rifle range, earning his Environmental Science and Swimming merit badges. He told me he didn't have much dirty laundry to wash because he hardly changed his clothes. (?!?) And yes, he had been faithful to say his prayers.
The clincher came when I asked him (like all mothers are inclined to do) whether he had brushed his teeth. Sheepishly he looked at me. "Yes, I brushed them." "That's my boy!" I exclaimed.
"On Thursday."