Do It

 We are responsible for our own actions. There was no sugar coating what we needed to do to fulfill our programs we advocated for in daily activities. I chose to be a girl scout, to be a part of a group, laugh and giggle while making new friends. At home Nan gave us chores every week, she did not nag us to do them we knew that we owned it and it make her life less hectic if just gave a little help from time to time.

Our girl scout troop wanted each girl to sell 50 boxes. I could have gone to my aunts, uncles, neighbors and family friends. That was the easy way out. Nan got a card table, one chair, 50 boxes of cookies and a cardboard sign with a green shamrock on it. We drove to a busy corner in the middle of downtown of our small community. She dropped me off with the table, chair, sign, cookies and $5 in quarters. In those days a box of girl scout cookies were $.75. She knew I would need change. I put on a uniform, hat and sash before I entered the car. I shouted,"Cookies, come and buy Girl Scout Cookies". Business men and women just walked by and smiled. I was 10, I had to come up with a plan to get rid of the cookies before she came back in two hours. I wanted to be a success and not put cookies back in the car. This was 1956 a family did not have money to spare for cookies or anything else. 

I waved at cars driving by and a few pulled over to buy one box at a time. I did not know it at the time, I was being bold and brazen. Girls did not have the right to do that in those days. I did not know it at the time but I was being taught flexibility, durability, along with stamina. One man stopped, asked to taste the cookie before he bought them. I said NO! He just wanted a free cookie. Two hours later Nan pulled up in the car, I had three boxes left. It was amazing once a person stopped to buy a box other people stopped too. There was a momentum of curiosity I did not know existed. Nan was proud of me so she went to the troop leader and asked for another 50 boxes. The next day she put me on the same corner all 50 boxes were gone within 90 minutes. Why did Nan do that to me? She wanted to push my enthusiasm to the degree I never knew I had within me.

My sisters and brothers would mow lawns, rake leaves, sweep sidewalks, anything to make 10 cents. Our allowance was 25 cents a week, an extra 10 cents was a gold mine. I started babysitting when I was 12 the family down the street with 6 children under 8 years old. Sometimes I put dinner on the table, put them in the tub, got their pajamas ready, in bed by 8. How could a mother and father with 6 kids go out every Saturday night? I was paid 50 cents an hour. I was rich. Some of my sisters babysat and others did chores for neighbors to make money. We would go to the 5 and 10 cent store all alone to buy a tube of lipstick or makeup just to feel like a grown up.

Simple Things Do Not Cost Much!