The Story of the Spelling Bee
(The story's a little long, but I want to remember it when I look back. It was a good moment.)
Apparently Miciah told me that she wanted to tell people about her amazing Spelling Bee performance, and I promptly forgot and announced it on Facebook. She wasn't happy with me. Still, now that she's written about it on her blog, I feel safe sharing my version of the story.
Last month Miciah told us that she was one of the top 10 spellers in 4th grade and would be participating in the school Spelling Bee. Fine, I thought. Rob did well in Spelling Bees when he was a kid, but I routinely bombed them and subsequently hate all things Spelling Bee related.
Last week Miciah informed me that the Spelling Bee was the next day and that I could come if I wanted. I didn't want to (see previous paragraph), but she obviously wanted me there, even though she didn't out and out say that. She was nervous, she said. Rob and I both told her that she shouldn't be, cause being one of the top 20 spellers in all of 4th and 5th grade was pretty cool, and really, by comparison, she'd already "won."
Still, she said that she didn't want to win, cause winners go on to more contests, I guess. So, being the good Mom I am, I said, "So spell a word wrong on purpose." She just ignored that suggestion (being a reformed competitor, I know full well that it's nearly impossible to perform badly on purpose) and said, "But I don't want to lose in front of all my friends, either." I assured her that she would NOT flub it in front of the whole school.
When I showed up, she was sitting on the stage looking SO nervous. Like deer-in-headlights nervous. I smiled at her and she attempted to smile back. I finally resorted to making faces at her and she laughed that pent-up-nervous laugh that people do. And then the Spelling Bee started.
She was near the front of the line, and one by one she'd spell a word right and her classmates would fall away. She got down to the top 10 and I thought, "Okay. She can lose now." Then it was the top 5 and then the top 3 and then I was super nervous for her. "She doesn't want to win!" I thought to myself. "Miciah, you need to lose now!"
And then it got tense. One of the 5th grade boys very confidently spelled a word and the audience gasped when the principal said that he had spelled it wrong. It was down to the last 2 people, and the two of them just circled around each other for a few rounds, correctly spelling out words, with the audience holding their breath each time. And then, there it was: "Elegant." Miciah spelled "egelant." The pressure finally got to her. The 5th grade boy who won spelled the next 2 words right, was declared the winner, and that was that!
After it was over, she ran into my arms and hugged me tight and bawled. I got a little teary, too. I told her that I was proud of her and that she'd done so well. I told her that she should be proud of herself, too. I knew, though, that she wasn't crying because she was happy or sad about her performance. She was crying because it had been a hard thing to do. And then I was grateful that she got 2nd place instead of 1st place. It really was the perfect ending to her 4th grade Spelling Bee experience.
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| A little creepy, no? A studious bee? It's just wrong. |
And, on a Mom note, I'm SO glad that I went to the Spelling Bee. That kind of mom moment only comes along once in a blue moon and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I know I try to keep this blog pretty sap-free, but I LOVE being a Mom. I love my kids. Nothing compares.
Otherwise
Otherwise things are pretty great right now! We're back to the same old stressful schedule, but I made a goal to not be as stressed out about it this term, and that's worked pretty well. Also, there isn't nearly as much reading this term (I'm actually reading a Wodehouse book right now. DURING the term!), and Thanksgiving and Christmas break were awesome. So this term has been great for me, even though I think it's still just as stressful for Rob. One of us being stressed, though, is SO much easier than both of us being stressed.
- Rob continues to get rave reviews from his NKU students. They adore him, which is nice, cause he adores teaching. NKU finally raised his pay to the highest you can get for an adjunct, which is awesome, because I've felt like he's deserved that pay level for the last year or so. Better late than never!
- We've been able to maintain a pretty great perspective on life lately. I know that some people think I maintain this amazing life perspective on a regular basis, but the reality is that it comes and goes. Lately it's been steady, and it seems to be getting steadier over time. I like this a LOT, and it makes everything else work so much better.
- Rob and I both have dropped our extra sports at night because of my crazy school schedule and his already busy teaching schedule. This is a bummer. BUT, it's worth it. We have family time, we see the kids, we have relatively stress-free time together. Genius! ... Also, we're trying to find things that the kids can do during the summer so that they're not totally left out of the Doings while I'm in school. If anyone has any great ideas, let us know!
- I got glasses. I know, this isn't a big deal, and I've talked about it before, but honestly it's changed my life. I didn't realize how many headaches I was getting, but not having them now is HUGE. I am more patient with the kids. I'm a better mom. I'm a better wife. I'm just a better person. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my glasses.
- I've been "reading" the Book of Mormon in sign language, which is pretty much awesome. Sometimes I have to stop the video and look at what the words on the page are. Sometimes this is for comprehension, and sometimes it's just to see how they interpreted things. It's been a great experience.
- The kids are playing SO well together. I feel like these are the Happy Days that a family will talk about years down the road. It's really cool to see.
- And lastly, I am still loving school and ASL. School is an adventure, and I love adventures! It's great to now have friends in the deaf community and to be able to say pretty much anything that I want to in sign language. My dreams at night are in sign language about 50% of the time, and they're not the nightmares that I used to have, where I'd forget some basic sign like "friend."
A lot of my friends in the deaf community aren't married and don't have kids. They look at me like I'm crazy when I talk about my family. (There are a lot of events that happen late at night in bars, and I've decided to not attend those - often other people blame my family for this, "Oh, that's right. You have a family," when really I just don't want to hang out in bars because I don't drink.) I tell them that it's great to have kids, and that I love spending time with them, etc. And they kind of roll their eyes. And I want to say, "No. REALLY. You're missing out." My signing time is my play time, but my family is my life. They're what it's all about.
And that's as sappy as it gets around here. Hope everyone is enjoying their January! (Except you folks in Alaska. You're exempt from liking January.)
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