Written by Rowonna McNeely – By now, I feel that you had to have noticed the girls standing outside the grocery stores, local pharmacies or even knocking on your door. You have seen them waving, smiling and holding up signs to advertise those yummy boxes of Girl Scout cookies. If you have seen them, you might have seen Kiera and I.
We signed Kiera up for Girl Scouts right before cookie season started, so it has been an interesting, fast-paced introduction to the program. Kiera is enjoying it. She has been able to meet new friends and learned new things.
She has finally learned to use a “big girl” voice as we call it when she approaches an adult. That is something we have tried and tried to work with her and had not had a lot of luck. When Kiera used to ask a question from an adult she did not know, she would barely whisper the words and would not look the person in the eyes. Now, after a few weeks of selling cookies, she is getting the hang of it.
We are still working on saying “Thank you” when someone does not buy cookies. It completely throws the younger girls off when someone actually says no. It’s kind of cute.
Kiera has, without any encouragement from me, perfected her door to door sales. She will bound up to the door and ring the bell. If there is no bell, then I have to knock on the door. Her knock wouldn’t even wake a dog. Once we have knocked or rang the bell, she steps back to stand by me while clasping her hands in front of her. She then stands still and waits patiently for the door to open.
Once the door is open and the “customer” comes outside, she begins to sway back and forth, smiles shyly and says, “Would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?” in a soft and cute voice.
It’s hard to say no to that face. Even though I am partial to it, I’d still have a hard time.
Cookie season is crazy. It’s fast paced and there are constantly opportunities to sell cookies. Kiera decided her goal would be to sell 600 boxes of cookies. Aaron almost fell out of his chair when she told him what she had decided. But, she has done well. There have been a couple of days that she has deemed no cookie sale days so she could rest.
I am proud of her, even when she gets bored at the cookie booths and I have to help her. She’s six. I’m not expecting her to stand behind a table for a solid hour and not lose focus.
Most of the time, the cookies reside in our truck. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, we always have them with us when someone wants a box. Reason two, and this one is very important, if they stay in the truck, then they are not in my house tempting me to eat them.
Last week, Kiera and I went to make a delivery. I pulled over in a parking lot to get the required cookie boxes out of their cases. Before I could get out and go to the back seat, Kiera piped up. “I can get them!”
She hastily unbuckled, grabbed a sack and begin to open the cases. “Read me the list and I will get them.” She said excitedly.
I began to read the cookies off the list. “One box of Thin Mints…”
She mumbled quietly to herself while looking at the cases, “Those are the green ones…”
“Got it!” She replied as she tossed the box in the sack. “Next!”
“Two Caramel deLites.” I read off to her.
She shifted the boxes around and climbed in the seat to reach the purple case that held the Caramel deLites. “Can you reach them?” I asked, reaching to unbuckle and assist.
“I got it!” She reached to open the case, only to find it had not been opened yet. “Look at this. I bet they thought a girl couldn’t open this.” She said as she pulled at the glued top of the cardboard box.
“Well, I will show them! I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.” She declared with a final and triumphant tug on the box.
The box lid pulled back, she reached in and pulled out two boxes of Caramel deLites. Handing them over to me, she confidently said, “I was born to be a Girl Scout.”
Watch out world.
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Rowonna McNeely
Graphic Designer - Mommy to Kiera
Rowonna McNeely works with her husband, Aaron, at Willie’s T’s in the Art Department, regularly volunteers in the community, and has her hands full with her daughter, Kiera, along with two dogs and one cat.
Rowonna is a graduate of May High School (Go Tigers!) and grew up on a dairy farm. She enjoys reading, creating, swimming, and planning events. She’s also a bit of a klutz.
