Creeper Van

As soon as we landed in New Jersey, we stopped at 1-800-Rentawreck and picked up the nine-seat delivery van we had put on hold a week ago. The van was a complete monstrosity. The back fender was rusting off, only three seat belts were functional, and the only thing keeping the windshield in its place was duct tape lovingly appliquéd about the corners. My Girl Scout troop fell in love with it and dubbed it the “Creeper Van.” We tore through the streets of New Jersey in that baby for the week we were in New York for our senior Girl Scout trip.
That senior trip was so memorable and fun, and not just because of the parking tickets we received on Monsieur Creeper’s part. We stayed in an absolutely disgusting rental house in New Jersey, which is a story in and of itself, and wreaked havoc at all the major sites in New York. At the Statue of Liberty, a Chinese tour group approached me and asked me to take some pictures of them. That took maybe five minutes, which was no problem. The problem came when people saw that “Pushover” was written on my forehead. I spent the next thirty minutes taking pictures for other tour groups. For one particular Chinese tour group, I was instructed in heavily accented English to bend down in the gravel and tilt the camera upwards, so that the whole of the Statue of Liberty could be seen in the background. I should’ve said no but, being the helpful Girl Scout that I am, I complied. They thanked me profusely after they saw that the gravel had stained my pants. Ok, so maybe most of this doesn’t sound fun, but I like it when humorously bad things happen to me. They make good stories.
When people learn I’m a Girl Scout, they either blatantly snort, like, “Girl Scouts, what a joke,” or they thank me for my service to the community. Some say that Girl Scouts are boring. I do wish that the Girl Scouts would revise some of their policies, to put more emphasis on knowledge of the outdoors, but I’m still proud to be a Girl Scout. I don’t find it to be a waste of time or dull at all. I’ve learned a lot of skills from my seven years as a Scout. Being forced to hawk Thin Mints has taught me to be social, and I’ve learned to get along with members of my troop who, if it weren’t for Girl Scouts, I would have never befriended. Through Girl Scouts I have gone to New York and Chicago and have tried yoga, baton twirling, and salsa dancing. I’ve volunteered at senior living centers and elementary schools. I enjoy my brown vest, even though I used to be not so keen to don it. Plus, I have a whole trunk of stories to reach into, like the time Sarah burned the mac and cheese and made the whole camp smell like charred noodles for three days.