The "Iron-On Patches" Story

Camille with her patches

It was an ordinary day.  Watching Rocco run around the living room in his Brownie vest, showing off for anyone who will look at him.  Rocco is the pet dog of my daughter Brynn and her family and his vest is a Brownie vest that is no longer needed in the household.  I am sitting with my granddaughter Camille who is explaining to me what all the iron-on patches mean that are on her new vest.  You did get what I just wrote, about the patches being iron-on.  For all you mothers, and perhaps fathers, who spent hour after hour sewing patches onto Brownie, Cub Scout, Girl Scout and Boy Scout uniforms, you would really appreciate the new iron-patches that I am looking at right now.  Well, 'Mille, as we fondly call her,  is pointing out the "Postcard" patch that she got for a program she attended where they mailed postcards to girls in other places.  She mailed her postcard to Sweden, since one of the other girls in her troop was born in Sweden and she thought it would be nice to send a card to that location.  Then she explained to me about the "Book Drive" patch that she has which she received for donating her personal books to a drive for other children so they too will be able to read.  She was pretty excited about the 20 plus books she gave for the drive. Thought I would take some photos of her and her vest so I grabbed my camera and started to focus.  That's when I found out that the battery was exhausted and I forgot to bring another battery with me.  No problem, I took my SD card from my camera and popped it in Camille's small camera.  Just a point and shoot, but that's all I need for this photo shoot.  Other patches that she pointed out to me were the "Friendmaker" patch which she got for making friends with other troops, "Cooking" patch she got for learning how to make mac and cheese, "Tea Party" patch she got for going to a tea party and having tea and pizza, "Project Linus" patch she got for making blankets for the less fortunate, "Ear of Corn" patch she got for visiting a farm and learning about the crops and animals, "Sleepover" patch for attending a sleepover with other Brownies, and the list goes on and on.  The Brownies seem to give patches for just about everything from arriving early for sign-up to celebrating Halloween.  And, boy is she proud of the patches.  She went on and on with elaborate stories about just about every patch including the patch she is going to get for selling me Girl Scout cookies today.  Yep, I bought 8 boxes including 2 of the thin mints which is the most popular cookie sold.  I'm anxious to see what the patch will look like on her vest.  I may even get the chance to iron it on if I happen to be visiting when she receives it.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Rocco with his vest