I will fully admit that being a Girl Scout leader is exhausting. And incredibly time consuming. And a bit stressful at times. (Because being in charge of 11 five-year-old girls at one time is going to be.)
But those are the things that I fully accept, without complaint, because the rewards far outweigh the exhaustion and business and stress. And we could talk about the rewards of helping to shape young minds, and watching the girls learn and grow, and creating the leaders of tomorrow, etc. And sure, all of those things are great.
The biggest reward, though, is much simpler. What it boils down to, really, are the smiles. Seeing those adorable little smiling faces every week makes me SO happy, and makes it all worthwhile. It's just impossible to see all of that joy looking up at you and not have your heart melted.
The other day my daughter and I were doing some shopping and ran into one of our troop member and her mom. I heard a very excited "Miss Melissa!" from across the store, and turned around to be greeted with a big smile, and an even bigger hug.
Yeah, it looked a little something like that. And it completely made my day.
