What I See at the Spelling Beeeee

So here I am at the Colorado Convention Center in a long desolate hallway while my lovely 13 year old daughter is herded into a giant room with several hundred other nerdy kids who can spell things like pnuematic and phlegm. She'll be in there for the next 90 minutes taking a written test to determine if she will be going on stage for the oral portion of the day. I'm not nervous for the kid...this sort of thing comes naturally to her, she's like...so totally talented.

Meanwhile her mama is waiting anxiously at a large round table that seats eight with another lady who was here first. Though we are sharing the table equally, she was here before me, so I am trying to keep my table drumming and foot tapping to a minimum. I sooo enjoy people watching and this hallway is ripe with entertaining folks to observe.

Downtown Denver


The lady at my table is wearing a pink t-shirt and pink headphones and every so often she giggles softly while reading a book that looks like it's straight out of Oprah's Book Club. To my left is a lady in the typical Colorado fleece winter vest complete with that crazy ski goggle sunburnt face. I can't help but notice that "goggle face lady" is missing the pinky finger on her left hand...and she's doing a crossword puzzle, writing with that same left hand. I pick up my own pencil, right handed, of course, and try to simualate what it would be like to write with no pinky...giggling to myself, I remember this is the exact thing I would snap at Danika for doing. You don't call attention to the different people, Danika! For what it's worth, I think I can live without a pinky.

Half an hour in and I've gone potty...yeah, I call it potty, what's it to ya??? I've gotten my make up on so I don't have to hear every Tom, Dick, and Harry comment that I look soooo tired...am I ok? Eyeliner really does work wonders. I love you eyeliner...and mascara...and lipgloss...oh how I loooove you! iTunes is blasting in my ears...Olivia Newton John wants to get Physical and Kool Moe Dee is rappin' about the Wild Wild West and Ginger just wants to get up and do a few cartwheels and dance around for a few minutes in this wide open space. But that just isn't done, is it? Us humans have to follow the rules, don't we? No random dancing, NO! Dancing can only happen at weddings and at late night drunken bar runs and in the privacy of your living room when the kids are off to school. Those are the rules and they must be followed lest we endure the judgemental stares from "people". For now I'll settle with a little chair dancing, wallflower style. Nobody puts baby in the corner!

Slight interruption from my good friend Davey updating me on his latest love interest. The boy always has his head in the clouds, hopeless romantic that he is, the conversation is over as quickly as it started, he must get back to the girl. That's always the way, isn't it? Friends become scarce when girlfriends and boyfriends come out to play. If we haven't found it already we're always out looking for our one true love. Sigh.

The guy at the end of the hallway has been smiling ever since he got here 45 minutes ago. His laughter is infectious and the crowd gathered at his table are clearly entertained by his over the top stories, wild hand movements and genuine happiness that exudes from his every cell. I'd love to get closer to hear what is so dang funny but I'm sure that awkard encounter would put a screeching halt to the good time. A tap on my shoulder...it's a tiny Korean woman shoving the daily newspaper under my nose..."Rook! The sperring bee is in da paper!" I thank her for the info and am impressed that she was willing to approach me even though her English is not perfect. I remember how daunting it was to live in Korea and know the language but be so afraid to talk for fear that I would be misundersood or made fun of. Never happened once. I think it's true that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. But I'm still scared of stuff.

Rocky's finished with the written test and makes her way down the hall to where I'm camped out with my laptop, pepsi, make up, peanut butter cookies, cell phone and sunflower seeds. She's chuckling to herself as she tells me that some kids asked for alternate "pronounciations" of words. Is that ironic? Hahaha, Yes, I think it is! We're sitting here sharing my headphones and listening to Journey...Any way you want it! That's the way you need it!!!! I love how an iPod can transform your boring day into a little internal dance party. And can I just say with my out loud voice how much I am enjoying a little alone time with this awesome girl? She was the only child for 5 years and once her brother and sister were born I haven't had much one on one time with her. She is a cool kid who is currently drawing a coconut tree on a beach. Coconut has to be my FAVORITE smell everrrrr!!! It makes me think of beaches and sun and all sorts of deliciousness...tropical drinks, swimming, salty air, and sleeping in a hammock.



I suppose I should post the finale of this story. The real reason we are here is for the Rock Star to shine, not for me to fine tune my people watching skills. So...the family all arrived at lunchtime and we sat around a big round table, all of us together, eating a little something. Sally made us an "invention". Saltine crackers with turkey and cheese...little cracker sandwiches were the invention of the day! We sat patiently through a speech given by last year's winner, man, spelling bee kids are such nerds! I'm surprised he didn't have like a golden dictionary as his trophy. The nerd's speech was charming, but I really had to laugh at his aim high and reach for the stars motivational words...really kid? Is spelling misanthrope really gonna make me a realllly successful ladyyyyy??? I dunno.

Here's what I do know...the announcer lady announced all the finalists for the oral round of the spelling bee. The eight of us sat around the table waiting to hear Rocky's name called. We waited til the end and her name was not called. And there was that split second when we all felt a little defeated by this crazy state spelling bee. Rocky allowed a tear to form in her eye and almost as soon as it was there, it was wiped away and she was off to collect her test results. Poor kid, I think she was shocked by what she found. So many of the words on that list were REALLY hard! I'm impressed she got to go to the State Spelling Bee, amazing kid, that one. I guess she forgot to memorize the dictionary. Sue us!