There be Eagles here

March 30, 2008

            Yesterday, M and his near-brother, Brennan, received their Eagle Scout awards.  Brennan’s mom, who is as close to blood sister to me as you can get without the blood part—and scout advancement chairman in the ward—set this whole wonderful thing up in my backyard.  Neither of us stand on too much ceremony.  We put an announcement in the ward bulletin, and M sent out Facebook invites, but we really hadn’t expected much of a turn-out.  Especially seeing as it was supposed to be cold and stormy.  And on a Saturday morning.

Setting out the spread 

The two Eagle men 

            But danged if we didn’t have a billion people show up.  My brother and his wife, all the youth leaders, friends, neighbors – beloved friends, neighbors—and the third of our almost sisterhood, Geneva the horse maven.  Rachel had bought enough Costco sugar to feed an army, and good thing, too.  And it was forty five degrees, which doesn’t sound that bad, except you’ve got to factor in the wind, which was blowing, and the clouds, which were lowering.  We were all freezing.  But it was still swell as anything, which is what happens when you have honorable young men and a yard full of people who know and love them.

The goofy, beloved brother and his lovely, patient wife. 

The goofy brother.  No other comment. 

 Fam visiting with fam.  The lovely and spunky L

 Three women of the apocalypse ——— and two angels, Mr. Stone and Kirsten

Hero brother and The Great T 

Color guard – brothers of the Eagle man 

 One billion people, listening to Rachel

Dad, awarding the Eagle to his son.  Mother, pinned and proud 

And the other Eagle.  Gee, is his mom proud too? 

          The very best part for me was C’s tribute to his brother.  You know, you carry these babies for it seems like years, and you pour your life first into birthing them (do not try this at home) and then into raising them—and one day, you find yourself standing on the sidelines, watching one kid (who you love, respect and admire) giving a man’s solemn and tearful tribute to another of your kids (who you love, respect and admire) and the pain and the wonder and the amazement simply hold you silent. 

            It worked.  Somehow, the whole family thing worked.

The beautiful brother, one of my heros.

            So here are some pictures.  We didn’t take video, and maybe that’s right – maybe all this kinda stuff should only be stored in memory.  Still, if it were possible to hear C’s words again, andM’s – later in the program, I’d finally buy an iPod and wear it like water-wings.

            Later, Geneva met me at my pasture and taught me a thing or two over about an hour and a half—most of which I remembered as I practiced on my own for another hour and a half.  And the upshot of all this is that the chocolate cake and key lime cheesecake I had for breakfast at the scout thing has me feeling fairly bulgy today, and the hours I spent in what I thought was the weak sun of March broiled me like a lobster. 

Thus on the heels of the sublime, a boat-load of ridiculous.