Davis' Eagle Ceremony

It was quite surreal to believe this day finally arrived.   What began as a visit to Chelsea Park elementary to decide if scouts was right for Sam, ended up with a pretty amazing journey for Sam and Davis.   And probably fit me way better than I would have every thought it would.   Davis did not finish as early as Sam did, but he was really impacted by COVID which delayed many of his eagle required merit badges.  But early in 2024, Davis and I sat down and talked about what it would take to finish by the end of the year, and he set a plan in motion.   And it worked, things just lined up with an Eagle Project that fit his skill set, and next thing you know we are planning a ceremony to celebrate a big accomplishment in his life.   

We were excited as he got to share this moment with a good friend of his Matthew Kirby who also received the Eagle rank.   Magan did all of Sam's eagle slideshow, but with her finger in recovery mode, I started making my way through the blogs and hundreds of scout pictures.   I kept asking Matthew's dad what he was looking at for a slide show, and he was thinking maybe 5 to 7 minutes.   Well, at that time I was at 400 pictures and well over 15 minutes.   Davis just had so many pictures because he actually was a scout as soon as Sam joined.   He got a tiger shirt and wore it everywhere, so he became our mascot for two years before he joined, getting to be with us every campout since Cub Haunted in October of 2011.   I also found the video of when his den won the summer camp water rocket derby and had to add that to the slideshow.   And after many many slow and tedious cuts, I finally got it down to 13.5 minutes.

Davis, I hope you can find the slideshow one day in the mess of electronic organization that may or may not be evident in your senile old parents' files.   I loved every minute putting it together, because I had so many moments I will always treasure.   The soundtrack included Forever Young by Alphaville that is often playing in my mind, then we jumped to the Top Gun theme, which we loved during our weekend at Spacecamp.   We then stayed with Top Gun, but moved to the Danger Zone, went back to instrumental with Frankenstein from the Edgar Winter group, and ended as required by all scouts of troop 354 with "Fly like and Eagle".   The slides took you from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts in 13.5 minutes, but watching it let me live those moments over again and again.   

I tried to capture all of the friends and family there to support Davis below.   It was a packed crowd during a normal Court of Honor, so there were many parents of the other scouts there also.   Mr. George and Mr. Jason awarded me with a really nice pocket knife for my service with the troop.   And because Mr. Jason Kirby could not perform the eagle ceremony tonight, they asked Sam to lead that portion.   For me and Magan, it was really about as good as a ceremony could have gone.   Magan had some tears, but not too bad.   I held it in pretty good till Matthew's slideshow when he showed him and Davis together thru the years at the end.   While I was not always the den leader for Davis in cubs, I have been with this group of boys since they were in the 1st grade, and now watching them all get to Eagle is awesome.   

I have watched both of these boys grow into leaders, and it was amazing to watch both of them up on stage.  Sam in his organized style reading from a script, but doing it with precision and no fear.   Davis just nonchalantly making his way through the ceremony like it was just another day, then capturing the crowd with his mentor pin speech.

"First, I would like to call up my brother Sam (awwws heard throughout the crowd).   Sam, you've always been like a brother to me (big laughs with natural timing to let it die before proceeding), and I couldn't have made it her without you.  You always did everything first so I could know exactly what to expect, making it easier for me to follow you (haha, Davis, how many times did I just say 'I don't know, ask Sam what he did').  Through all the jokes and dump dinosaur pictures (I don't know what this is all about), you've helped me get to where I am today."

"Next, I would like to call up my Granddad.   Granddad, You have shared tons of knowledge with me and taught me all I know about building stuff.   You've shown me the common sense that I lacked and made me smile while doing so.   Thank you for being such a great role model and guiding me as I've grown."

"Mr. George, from sharing a canoe on that first campout at black water to all the others that followed, you've helped me learn how to cook, enjoy the outdoors, and expand my Hot Wheels and Coke Bottle collection.   I will always remember the adventures and new experiences that you've shared with me"

Magan's facebook post words:  What an awesome ride it has been to raise the boys in scouts!  Looking back at all the experiences, memories, and great people they have had the joy of meeting, brings tears to my eyes. This program without a doubt has given them the opportunity to try new things and realize which things they like and may even be good at doing.  It has taught them so many ways to be active throughout life.  Thank you is not enough, to every leader along the way in our troop!  We have the best troop in Chelsea only bc of the leaders who sacrifice time and who care enough to help these boys become better people. Davis celebrated becoming an Eagle Scout Monday and it was the sweetest ceremony.  Sam got to help lead the ceremony in his Eagle Scout uniform and present Davis with his award. He chose to honor his big brother, his grandad, and his Troop Master with mentor pins. It’s so bittersweet to know this was our last Scout event. I got to make cookies for these boys one last time.  I am so proud of all three of these guys!  Davis and Sam for their Eagle rank and Scott for being such a great dad and leader in the troop.  Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out and celebrate with us in such a special night!!!  Big thanks to Lisa Ann for taking pics for us during the ceremony!

And with that, we close the book of our many fun 14 years in scouting.   My brown shirt still clinging to a few letters left, and proudly showing me still in the Cub Scout Pack.   I never got into all the adult badges that some went after, as that was not my thing.   My thing was facilitating and planning events where me and Sam and Davis could make some new memories.   I will never have the "Father of Boy Scouts" bumper sticker, but I am pretty proud of my lapel pins...pretty proud of the two mentor pins I collected over the years...but most of all, pretty proud of two boys that I watched work very hard for the rank of Eagle.   Great Job Davis!