Jenny Stories!

Well, there has been way too much serious talk on this blog lately, so I am going to change gears and go back into memory mode.

If you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you’ll have heard me talk about Jenny, a fellow Troop 20 member.  Jenny was in the troop from the beginning to end, so we went through many adventures together.  Jenny was also one of our cookie ringers along with Caroline that allowed us to win TOP SELLING TROOP of the Northeast Georgia Council 5 years in a row!  IN YOUR FACE!

Before I begin, I asked Jenny if it was OK to post this, because I didn’t want to embarrass her.  Jenny – if you are reading this and change your mind, just let me know and I’ll give it some thought whether I pull this post or not.  Just kidding.  I will.  If you pay me enough money.  😉  These stories may also be one of those times where it’s funnier to tell it in person,  or it’s one of those “you had to be there” kind of situations.  Oh well.  Everybody’s always laughed when I’ve told them.  Oops, sorry Jenny.  I didn’t use your last name though, I promise! 🙂

I remember Jenny as being one of those people that always had a genuine smile on her face.  She is a very sweet person.  But sometimes she would say things that … well, you’ll see.  Two of my favorite Jenny stories both happened on our Trip Out West™.

The first one happened while four of us were backpacking at National Center West.  Sally, Jenny, Beth, and I had stopped for the night, and Beth was refilling the water containers at a nearby stream using a water filtration system.  In the spring before our trip, our troop went backpacking, and Beth had showed us how to use a water filter and what it does.  She explained why we had to treat water and told us about pathogens such as Giardia.  (If you would like to know more about water purification systems and what they do, here you go).  What is Giardia?  It is a very nasty parasite that you don’t want to mess with or bad things will happen.  Bad things, I tell you!

So back to NCW – Jenny was watching Beth and asked her if she was using a filter.  Beth said that yes, she was.  Jenny said, “Good, because we sure don’t want to catch gonorrhea!”  We all fell over laughing and Beth said, “If you all come back with gonorrhea, then I have a lot of explaining to do.”  Jenny looked around confused but was still wearing her genuine smile.  After wiping the tears away from our eyes, we explained that gonorrhea was an STD and that she got it confused with Giardia.  “Ohhhhhh….”

Any time I am browsing camping equipment and come across water filtration systems, I think of Jenny and Giardia and gonorrhea.  I’m sure Jenny is thrilled that her name is associated with those two things.

The other story is one that Marla and I still share as one of our inside jokes.  At some point during the trip, we stopped at an IGA grocery store to load up on food for our week-long stay at NCW.  Remember traveler’s checks?  Yeah, I’m dating myself.  Anyway, some of us bought junk food and batteries for our Walkmans and paid for it using traveler’s checks.  It was Jenny’s turn to check out.  A disinterested, gum-chewing cashier rang up her things and told her the amount.  Jenny asked to whom she should write the check.

The disinterested gum-chewing cashier (in a very flat voice):  “I-G-A.”
Jenny:  “How do you spell that?”

This woke up the disinterested cashier who stopped mid-chew to look over at Jenny with raised eyebrows to see if she was in fact joking.  Jenny smiled back in her very genuine way and was, in fact, not joking.

Now interested but wary gum-chewing cashier: “IIIIIIIIII… GEEEEEEEE…  AAAAAA.”
Jenny:  “OK, thanks!”

The cashier slowly went back to chewing her gum while studying Jenny intently.  Jenny signed her check.  Marla and I turned red holding in our laughter and still to this day write “I G A” to each other on our Facebook walls:

Love you Jenny!  🙂 🙂  🙂  Don’t kill me the next time you see me!!