Cardboard Castles & the Village Effect
This week Valentine’s Day & Presidents Day have passed, Jack’s “leg-versary” was February 13th, and my modest adobe remains a temporary village.When Jack lost his leg about five years ago, what I remember most is not the surgery, the bills, or even the recovery. I remember neighbors. A retired vet appeared. Others helped, called police, called animal control. Another brought a sheet to wrap Jack in. People I did not know, had never spoken to,... [More]
By: Sapna Kanda On: 2026-02-16
Same Scouting. Different units & rhythms.
Here in Northern Nevada, spring is already settling in. The days are stretching out, the air is softer, and the hills are starting to wake up. In contrast, other places are still buried under snow, moving at a completely different pace.That contrast isn’t unusual, just lived reality. We’re all standing in the same calendar, but have different perspectives and environments we are operating from.For me, this season has been less about the weather and more... [More]
By: Sapna Kanda On: 2026-02-09
Scouting Rhythm, and the Workbench
If you have been in Scouting long enough, you stop believing in "normal" seasons. People talk like winter is slow, summer is busy, and spring is a fresh start. It is a nice story. It just does not hold up in real units, with real families, real weather, mixed with living mischief of youth. This winter has been mild where I am. Last year was too. Meanwhile, other parts of the country have been hammered... [More]
By: Sapna Kanda On: 2026-02-02
When He Starts Calling You
Lately, life hasn’t so much shifted as it has rearranged itself without asking permission. Not in a bad way. Just in a very real one. I went from living alone, moving at my own rhythm, trying to keep a small business flowing, to sharing a home with a friend and her kid. He’s seven now. Full of energy. Full of questions. And somewhere along the way, he started calling me “dad.” That wasn’t part of... [More]
By: Sapna Kanda On: 2026-01-26
Doing What Is Right, Even When It’s Not Easy
As we head into the week of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we’re reminded of a simple but powerful truth often attributed to him: “The time is always right to do what is right.” In Scouting, we talk a lot about character, values, and leadership. But those ideas aren’t meant to live only in ceremonies, mottos, or handbooks. They’re meant to show up in everyday moments. The quiet ones. The inconvenient ones. The moments when... [More]
By: Sapna Kanda On: 2026-01-18
January Doesn’t Need a Reset Button
As the campfire crackles, flames dancing and throwing an orange glow across the trees, the moment is alive. Sparks lift into the dark. Wood pops. Smoke drifts just enough to remind you where you’re sitting. Then a Scout shrieks with delight from somewhere behind you, and you nearly spit a mouthful of coffee into the dirt. Kids are being kids. Loud. Curious. Bursting with energy. Their excitement doesn’t dip the way ours sometimes does after... [More]
By: Sapna Kanda On: 2026-01-12
Wobbly Behind the Scenes
My flow has been a bit wobbly behind the scenes. Just before Christmas, I more or less crashed. Not in a dramatic way, but in an AuDHD burnout or shutdown kind of way. Between a stubborn, snot-filled cold, the holidays, and the weight of running my own business, it all accumulated. Most of what happened after that was rest and recovery. Not much output. Just letting the system settle. The good news is that things... [More]
By: Sapna Kanda On: 2026-01-05
Scouting, the New Year, and Changing Course
The calendar flips. The year resets. And suddenly, everyone feels the quiet pressure to make big plans and bold promises they’re not entirely sure they want to keep. But the New Year isn’t really about starting over. It’s about remembering that nothing is permanent. Trails change. Weather shifts. And sometimes the path we thought we were on quietly bends in a new direction. Scouts understand this better than most. A map is only useful if... [More]
By: Sapna Kanda On: 2025-12-29
Scouts: Courtesy, Kindness, and the Holiday Table
The days are short now, the nights are long, and calendars everywhere are doing that end-of-year thing where they quietly panic. Whether your family says Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or starts the gathering with “so… who brought this?”, this season has a way of pulling people together. Not perfectly. Not quietly. But together all the same. In Scouting, we talk a lot about family, friends, and fellowship. Around a campfire, those things come naturally. At... [More]
By: Sapna Kanda On: 2025-12-25
December has a way of teaching quietly.
This week, that lesson arrived as a shared cold. A sniffle passed along by a kiddo who meant well, delivered with all the generosity children are known for. Nothing serious, just enough to slow things down. A reminder that even small things ask for care. There’s an old saying often passed around campfires, sometimes credited to Native wisdom, sometimes to long winters and observant people. Whether the wording is exact or not, the meaning holds:... [More]
By: Sapna Kanda On: 2025-12-16