Last Friday evening was, as always, manic. I picked the eldest two up from school and we rushed home to finish packing for Molly’s Brownie camp.

I had a few butterflies about her going away, but didn’t feel too bad until we arrived at the camp. As the hut came into view I could feel myself go. There was a lump in my throat and my eyes began to water. I bit my lip and was extremely grateful that I was wearing sunglasses!

Molly had been really quiet on the journey there and didn’t give any indication of how she was feeling. The nights before she went, she kept telling me she didn’t want to be left and that she wanted me to stay with her. I hoped that she wouldn’t get upset as I knew that it would start me off.

We walked into the hut and Molly was given a list of things to do before we could leave her. We were shown to her room and as she was first there she had a choice of where she slept. We began unpacking and following the instructions on the list, when one of her roommates arrived. She was much more bubbly than Molly and very chatty, but Molly seemed to get on well with her.

Hubby was hurrying me up as he knew that the longer I stayed the harder it would be for her (and me) and as we walked out of her room her friend from school turned up, giving her the responsibility of showing her around and keeping her mind off the fact we’d left.

We made a quick exit and that was it.

I constantly kept checking my mobile throughout the weekend and we panicked when I received a voicemail on my mobile but we couldn’t access it because we were in the middle of the forest with no signal. It was a fraught few minutes that seemed to last a lifetime before I finally had enough signal to pick the voicemail message up…..from my Mum. Phew!

Molly is the quietest of our three children so we didn’t notice her not being around so much as we would do with the boys but I still missed her terribly, especially at bedtime. There were no goodnight kisses or tucking her into bed. Charlie was with my Mum Saturday and Sunday so it was rather nice for me, hubby and Harry to spend some quality time together.

Harry missed Molly and kept walking into her room to find her.  He was so excited to see her on Sunday afternoon when we went to collect her. She raced over and gave him a massive hug. I hugged her so tight that she complained I was squeezing her too hard!

On the way home she talked non-stop about the weekend, which reassured me that she’d had a good time as we struggle to get any conversation out of her most of the time.

There was a minor incident during the weekend with some other girls and because she was exhausted it seemed 100 times worse for her. But, after speaking to the Brownie leader I was reassured that it wasn’t as bad as Molly had made out. During the conversation she described Molly as ‘almost the perfect Brownie’ and said that she was always the first to help out and didn’t have to be told when it was her time for chores. Proud doesn’t begin to cover it. I do wish she could be more like that at home though!!

Molly had a great time and couldn’t wait to tell everyone about her experiences. She is now looking forward to her next trip away from home. Me? Well, I coped better than I thought and I’m so glad she enjoyed it. I wouldn’t want her to leave me too often though!