Change doesn’t always come easy for people, but sometimes there is a catalyst that changes someone’s personality in a radical way. Judging by an outgoing personality, a tendency to be a leader and his popularity, you wouldn’t suspect that my son used to be a shy, quiet and reticent home schooled boy who had a hard time adjusting when he first attended our local high school.
Matthew had joined the Boy Scouts when he was 12 years old. He had reluctantly attended many campouts and their weekly meetings were more of chore to him than anything else. My husband, being an Eagle Scout himself, would not let him quit just yet.
Everything changed when he and his sisters, who joined his troop for the Venture program, attended summer camp when he was 14 years old. Not only did he enjoy the trip, but he offered to stay for the rest of the summer and work as a volunteer. His three older sisters did the same and it became a yearly trip for the kids who after the following year became part of the regular staff.
The change in Matthew from that very first summer was amazing. He became more self assured. He joined the football team that fall and the soccer and volley ball team later on. By the time his senior year rolled around, not only was he rewarded with his sports’ teams spirit awards for a third year in a row, but he was elected Prom king and had completed an Eagle Scout project called 15 Minutes, which if you are familiar with that CiHP program, you would know it’s an ambitious project not easily achieved by the students themselves.
I could talk for ages about the positive changes that my son went through rapidly in the space of a few weeks, but suffice to say for now that he has indeed become a great young man with a bright future ahead of him. Along with his sisters, they provide a great source of pride and joy for both, my husband and me. I am their biggest fan and whether it is embarrassing for them or not, I show it all the time.
=)
Long Exposure
Among the people you’ve known for a long time, who is the person who’s changed the most over the years? Was the change for the better?
TyroCharm 