My First Troop

We went to the UNM Children’s hospital tonight for my first “official” troop! We dressed in conference room, then spent the next hour or so walking around and seeing the kids.

Our “docent” would knock on the door of the child’s room, tell them there were some Star Wars characters here to see them, then, if the they wanted, we would go in and say “hi.” Sometimes the kids had “contact restrictions” in which case we’d wave from the door. Of course some of the kids, or the kids’ parents, didn’t want us to come in for whatever reason, but for the most part everyone wanted to see us.

In fact, the first wing we went through was pretty quick… 10 or 15 minutes to do the whole thing. We would wave, say “hi”, and move along, move along. But the 2nd wing we went through was a Star Wars fan club! Children had Star Wars books, parents had Star Wars tattoos, one young man (probably 15) had a poster of himself someone had made for “Episode VII”. So, needless to say, we spent much more time in that wing taking pictures and just interacting with everyone.

It was as great of an experience as I’d have hoped it would be. The kids (and parents) were all so excited to see us. “You’re the real deal,” one parent said. “You’ve met the Stormtroopers,” another told his son. It was sad in many ways to be there, but the smiles and laughter of the kids made it much easier. What a great first troop!