The B

The spelling bee. Our first. Grace signed up for her school's annual fourth grade spelling bee. To be honest, she is a pretty good speller - so, why not? I was a pretty good speller too (not sure if it is hereditary) and I just finished reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother (her daughters did the bees too). Honestly, we crash studied the most difficult words the night before -- Grace and I both started to panic, there were tears, and a few hints at not doing the bee.

The night of the bee...Grace and I signed in together. She placed her number around her neck and joined the other contestants on one side of the cafeteria and I joined the parents on the other side. Simply put, it was a circus. Crazy, loud kids waiting for their crack at the bee. Parents, siblings, grandparents with cameras and video cameras angling for good seats.  My first thought was, "Let's make a run for it Grace!". My second thought was even worse, "Look at the almost 100 competitors, Grace is never going to win" (true).

In spite of all of the above, Grace was smiling. She was actually beaming. She gave me a thumbs up and even winked at me! She was unshakable. The pressure was only increasing her confidence. At that moment, I realized it. We, I mean she, may stand a chance.

Grace breezed through the first two rounds. The words were easy (the difficult ones we studied must have been for the final round of nationals). She was all smiles, thumbs up, and winks. Then, the third round arrived. Grace spelled f-u-i-r-n-i-t-u-r-e and it was over. She handed in her number, grabbed her certificate, and sat down next to me. I gave her a hug and a "good job!".. she started tearing the certificate ever so slightly. Under her breath, she claimed the judge and I misheard her and she did spell furniture correctly (I should have challenged the judge it seemed. Really?!).

Funny thing about losing...it can make one walk taller. The following day, after receiving lots of praise for just participating, Grace was all smiles and winks once more. Her classmate, who made it to the next level, told Grace she lost because she spelled too quickly. Grace told me she was going to start working on her written submission for the upcoming Child's Play contest this spring. I have a feeling Grace and I will be back at The Bee next year. Bzzzzzzz.

Tricia

No bees ... just pillow pets!