What's a Childless Woman's Legacy? Millions of Kick-Butt Girl Scouts.
Surely you've noticed that Girl Scouts suddenly seem to be all over the place: front and center on Good Morning America, or prominently placed on LATimes.com. Girl Scouts are 100 years old this year. All that green doesn't look a day over 50. The actual centennial day was March 12.
I'm one of the nearly 60 million women living in the U.S. today who are Girl Scout alumnae. That's why I've known since 3rd grade that March 12th was the day Juliette Low of Savannah, Georgia founded the Girl Scouts. I must have read every biography of her in the kids' section of the library. I knew that after she met Boy Scouts founder Robert Baden-Powell, she was determined to replicate that group for girls.
What I didn't know (or didn't remember) is that Juliette was a NotMom. Her marriage failed, too, which was a HUGE deal in the early 1900s.
I remember how much I loved Juliette Low when I was a girl. I loved her name. I loved her nickname, 'Daisy.' I loved my imaginings of Savannah. All these years later, I'm falling in love with her all over again after reading this description of her by the author of a new biography, Juliette Gordon Low:
"By every standard of her day, Juliette Gordon Low at the age of 45 was a failure. she had failed at motherhood (in that she had not become a mother). She had failed at being a wife. But (those seeming failures) also play a role in her saying, 'You know, one of the things I like about (scouting) is that there's a Plan B here for girls.'"
Oh yeah. Life is all about the Plan B. Pivot. Punt. Switchback play.
Girl Scouting today involves 3.2 million girls and adults in 90 countries. Later this year, the U.S. Postal Service will release a Girl Scouts stamp. All because of a NotMom who's enhanced little girls' lives for 100 years.
Teresa K.
9:25 am on Saturday, March 24, 2012
I mean no disrespect to the author, but I find her posts so difficult to follow. Too many rambling sentences with comments posted intermingling with blah blah blah and then the commas.... What a cruel word: NotMom... I've never heard it before.
There seems to be too many ideas in her posts. It's probably just me....
Karen Malone Wright
6:35 pm on Sunday, March 25, 2012
I'm sorry you find NotMom to be cruel, that's certainly never the intention. I see the term as a statement of fact: I am not a Mom. As "Mom" has evolved to become a stand-alone brand, I propose balance be given to acknowledge to their counterparts.
James Thomas
9:51 am on Saturday, March 24, 2012
OK,
I'll say it. KML, no one responds to your blog because we all know that we will be crucified if we do.
Le'ah Keturah-Sarah Krzywkowski
6:26 pm on Saturday, March 24, 2012
http://thenotmom.com/. Educate yourself about NotMom.... Not as bad as you think...
Sonia Gwynes
12:10 pm on Saturday, March 24, 2012
A Tree for the Future - By Juliette Gordon Low
Every spring
The sap rises in the trees
From root to branch
And makes a tree that looks dead
Blossom with green leaves
And life.
So it is that the Scouting Spriit
Rises within you and
Inspires you to put forth
Your best.
Le'ah Keturah-Sarah Krzywkowski
6:15 pm on Saturday, March 24, 2012
Thank you for posting this tidbit about the Girl Scouts! I didn't even know about Julliette Gordon Low ( I am sure many women do not know about her), now I have another person to add to my growing list of inspiring people to look up and learn more about. I don't feel that NotMom is a degrading term. When I was a young adult, I was pretty much a failure at love relationships and certainly couldn't see myself as a mother because of my life circumstance. sometimes we just aren't cut out for the funny hole that society has set aside for us. And that is more than just O.K. That has to be celebrated, not demonized. I do have children now, but that was the result of a last minute epiphany about myself and FINALLY meeting my soul-mate. In this society, and many others a woman's worth seems to be boiled down to 'who' she marries, if she has children, and to what degree she has her sexuality 'controlled'.... I am inspired by all women who see all of this splayed out before them, and choose a different path!
Le'ah Keturah-Sarah Krzywkowski
6:18 pm on Saturday, March 24, 2012
Whoops... The auto correct put ' funny hole' instead of what I meant to type which was " cubby" hole. lol.... Well I guess that social cubby hole is a rather funny one....
Karen Malone Wright
6:37 pm on Sunday, March 25, 2012
I can see you have that Girl Scout spirit!
Michelle Simakis
10:02 am on Sunday, March 25, 2012
Happens to all of us, @Le'ah! Thanks all for sharing your thoughts about the NotMom blog and thanks, @Sonia, for posting more information about Juliette Gordon Low.
Henry Ford
10:28 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
Karen,
Just a note to say "Keep the Faith." I've added one of your recent posts to my Facebook Page at https://www.facebook.com/successisyou and shared with several groups.
Henry
joe simonton
10:41 am on Friday, May 25, 2012
nice job Henry at getting your link out there