Long but Worth Reading.

So yesterday, I got to the girl scout camp I help out at and they were playing a game I had taught them the day before. Then I walked up and they all jumped on me in hugs. It was painful, but fun.

There's this one little girl, let's call her Eli. She was very shy and quiet at the beginning of camp. The girls tried to talk to her, and they were very good about how they went about it, like any girl scout should be. Eli still didn't want to play, so she sat next to me. She finally decided to play. The girls decided they wanted to play a different game, that the one we had started was boring. So they were yelling other games they wanted to play.

Except for Eli.

She stood in the back quietly. I looked at the group and back to Eli. My goal was to get her to loosen up before the end of camp. I said, "Eli, come here for a minute.." The rest of the girls got quiet, they knew what was about to happen. "Eli, what game do you want to play?" I whispered to her. She looked surprised and thought about it. "Ships.." she whispered back in her cute, five year old voice. It was a game called ships and sailors. "Okay," I smiled. "Girls, get in line for ship and sailors." They did. Then Eli jumped and I picked her up and we called together for a while, until I asked her if she wanted to do it herself. She called them out. And the girls as well as herself, had a great time.
By the end of the night, she was having such a great time that the girls attacked me again, and this time, she helped them. She had a great time too.

Eli gives me hope.