The regional spelling bee was tonight for Girl (next level up after winning the bee at her school). She ended up placing 3rd (out of about 35 kids from 3 counties). The competition was pretty stiff, but we are VERY proud of her performance. She was confident and composed, but the word “croustade” just got the better of her (yes, ironic, I know, given my recent fondness for French pastry – suffice to say you will not see me making any “croustades” any time soon). She can spell tchotchke and waterzooi and azimuth and witloof and cynosure and hemerocallis all day long, though. 🙂 In the final rounds, any word in the dictionary is fair game and there’s just not really any (practical) way to study for that. The young lady that ended up winning was absolutely deserving. She was obviously quite prepared.
The bee itself was very interesting: a varied selection of Americana. Pretty much any culture that you can imagine was represented, from a super-cute little boy in Chuck Taylors and a shirt with electric guitars on it to a young girl in a Muslim hijab and everything in between (Girl was in Chuck Taylors, a hoodie and a cool Threadless tee). The children were amazingly supportive of one another. There was one girl that was giving a “thumbs up” to her competitors when they got their words right and was consoling children as they were eliminated. Very inspiring. She was very sweet; I regret not finding out her name or getting her contact info. She seems like the kind of girl that would make a great friend/playmate for Girl. The fact that this event was happening on “Super Tuesday” wasn’t lost on me. I hope that this positive atmosphere of encouragement and peaceful co-existence will be something that the adults in charge of our country can also accomplish. Whatever your leanings, (Conservative or Liberal, Republican or Democrat), you’ve got to be proud of the fact that we have a man of color and a female as viable candidates…just to know that we are open-minded enough to support things that would have been impossible just a few generations ago…it gives me hope.