I was a girl scout

Yes. I was a Girl Scout. Hello. However, my memories on the specifics about my experiences are generally fuzzy. Here are some images I remember:

• Learning the American Sign Language alphabet, then sitting cross-legged with the rest of my troop, and signing my first name to a woman who was deaf. She had come to our meeting as a guest, and I remember my heart pounding and my fingers going all wiggly because I was so nervous. Signing my name in front of everyone. I think I did OK, though.
  
• Standing in the hallway of the community center where we would meet, with hot tears welling up in my eyes because I couldn't do the hand motions to "Edelweiss" perfectly after trying for only 20 minutes. I remember the hallway was really dim, because no one else used the building on Saturdays, so not all the lights were on.
  
• Going to Camp Welaka for "Girl Scout camp," but all I remember was waking up in the middle of night, scratching myself raw because I was covered in head-to-toe mosquito bites (we were all eaten alive). I may have woken up with a swollen eye. I think I also had the coolest flashlight known to man: it had three different lights on it, one of which may have strobed.
  
• Looking through my badge book, searching for badges that didn't involve talking to strangers/anyone at all. 

I was a "brownie" and then graduated to "junior." I did help sell cookies. But as I recall, I hated standing outside of Crafts & Stuff and seeing the look in people's eyes. 

"Oh, god please don't ta--" 

"Hi, would you like to buy some Girl Scout cookies?" the other girls would whine as sweetly as possible.

Then it was the adults' turn: stammering, excuses, or the pursed-lip-with-a-head-shake. 

I was even more shy and stranger-phobic than I am now, so you can imagine the back of my E.T.-length neck burning, my cheeks on fire, and all I wanted to do was go home and watch T.V. under the covers. Or build prototypes for fake inventions. Or read my "Goosebumps" books.

Oh, boy. That went somewhere I didn't expect it to.