Tonight is my 7-year-old’s first Scout meeting. The hubs and I were not Scouts. We have no idea what we are doing. We are flying blind.

True to style, we waited until the night before his Scouts meeting to buy a uniform. Around 8:30 p.m. my son pulled the uniform out of the bag and a handful of badges fell out.

“Mom, I didn’t even have to earn these badges,” he said as he picked up the little squares. “I bought them. Wolf Cubs is super easy.”

The badges!  I didn’t think about the badges needing to be sewn on. My sewing is limited to buttons. Anything beyond that takes me forever and it’s a jagged mess. It was too late in the evening to bother my friends who are proficient with a sewing machine. I doubted I could make it to Hobby Lobby before it closed to buy one of those no-sew kits. I knew I was headed for an all-nighter showdown with the needle and thread. Worst of all, I knew his uniform would look pathetic when I was done.

My son kept talking. He was reading pages from the Cub Scout book. I wasn’t listening. I could hear my mom’s voice in my head, “This is why you should never wait until the last minute.”

The inadequacy had taken over. Why, oh, why was I never a Girl Scout? Girl Scouts know how to sew. They have a sewing badge to prove it. I’m not deserving to be a Scout mom…I have failed the Scouts!

The hubs must have seen the panic laced with failure look on my face. He pulled another item out of the bag and tossed it on my lap. “Don’t worry, babe. I bought you an adhesive kit.”

The relief washed over me and I fell in love with him all over again.

“Yeah, this sticky stuff will hold until we get to your mom’s house,” my son said. “Then Nana can sew the badges on.”

I thought all of my problems were solved until I realized that I did not know where to put the badges. There were pictures, of course, but the pictures didn’t match the badges in hand. I applied the badges in what I hope are the right places. The good news is, I can peel and stick until I get it right.