Bee a spellebrity

Dear Caroline,

This week is my favorite week in the year. It is Bee Week! The Scripps National Spelling Bee is something I have watched for six years now although I missed it last year because I was at my rehearsal dinner. Does it make me a bad person that I would rather have been watching than having dinner with my family? It was actually an argument for setting the date on June 25^th.

Why do I like it so much? I started watching six years ago when a boy I went to church with and babysat for was a participant. Granted he didn’t make it to the semi-finals but I was hooked. I guess it is the teacher in me, but it makes me so proud to see these kids, some as young as six, dedicate so much of themselves to something so many people don’t value anymore. With technology and typing, spelling skills are not valued as much as they used to be. I know that I am a terrible speller and it amazes me that these kids can spell these words! It blows my mind.

It starts out with various qualifying events from across the country and internationally. In Georgia, there are two final contests sponsored by the Augusta Chronicle and the Georgia Association of Educators. In all honesty, Georgian contestants don’t usually don’t last long. Although we do have one contestant still in play in the semi-finals. Once arriving in Washington D.C, all spellers take a written spelling test. Students that do well enough on the spelling test advance to the preliminaries. Everyone spells words and you aren’t necessarily eliminated because you miss a word. The top fifty students who advance to the semi-finals are eliminated from competition with the sound of a bell should they spell anything incorrectly.  The Finals are held at night on ESPN and are awarded $40,000 in prizes for spelling every word correctly. Below are some examples of winning words.

2008	guerdon	Sameer Mishra	Journal and Courier, Lafayette, Indiana
2009	Laodicean	Kavya Shivashankar	Olathe News, Olathe, Kansas
2010	stromuhr	Anamika Veeramani	The Plain Dealer Cleveland, Ohio
2011	cymotrichous	Sukanya Roy	Times Leader Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania

I really enjoy the Scripps National Spelling bee and would love to attend some day. I’m famous for it amongst my friends. I’m always getting kidded about it but it is so worth it.

Wish #54: I wish for you to be a halfway decent speller. Anything than my skills would be an improvement.

Love always

Ten Things

Dear Caroline,

Change is a part of life. I sometimes wonder what kind of person I will be in ten years when we meet. I know I won’t be the same. It won’t be possible. Reflecting on the kind of person a decade makes can be huge. So this is me… now. I wonder if these will still hold true ten years from now?

1. Cream cheese is my absolute favorite food. I make the best stuffed shells with cream cheese. This summer will be spent learning more cream cheese based recipes starting with Danishes. Yum!
2. I enjoy watching entire seasons of television shows on Netflix.
3. I get comfortable wearing the same sets of clothes and hate getting new ones.
4. I absolutely love my job- especially the summers off HA
5. I hate your dad’s job. He works nights and it is dangerous. I am so ready for him to find a more less-dangerous job.
6. I want to learn how to knit and crochet. I want to make baby booties, blankets, and maybe quilt like my grandmother. Maybe even your Halloween costumes. All of which are dying arts.
7. My new favorite color is yellow.
8. I’d like to get into gardening again. I’m thinking of starting small with maybe an herb garden.
9. My all time favorite song is “Somebody to Love” by Queen.
10. I am married to my best friend.

I can’t wait to learn your favorite color and song. The little things in life make a person.

Wish #53: I can’t wait to discover all of your favorite things.

Love always

Stupid

Dear Caroline and God our Father,

(I would just like to begin this letter by stating that this is in response to a television show I am currently watching and nothing to do with any person in my real life.)

I think teenage pregnancy is stupid. Majorly stupid. I think that all unplanned pregnancy is stupid but especially teenaged pregnancy. I think marriage in response to pregnancy is stupid.

I say this as a teacher and a Catholic. Babies and in turn children should be wanted. They should be cared for. They shouldn’t have to wonder where their dinner is coming from because their underage parents can’t afford to buy groceries for them. They should be able to enjoy their childhood instead of having to grow up so quickly to take care of the parents. Nothing in my life makes me more heartbroken than unwanted and uncared for children. And it isn't the government or the grandparents or great-grandparent's responsibility to care for them.You were wanted Caroline and I wish all children were.

I am currently watching Private Practice. This is the episode where two fifteen year olds get married (in a grand fashion, I might add) in response to a pregnancy. Everyone celebrates and gets excited despite the circumstances except Maya’s mother. She in turn is demonized and guilted into attending the wedding. What everyone doesn’t remember is that Naomi was being a good mother and tried to set boundaries and rules when Maya started dating and no one really took her seriously. It serves Maya right and when her prepubescent nuptials fall apart I hope she remembers her what her mother told her. I would not have signed the consent form for my fifteen year old to get married. I wouldn’t have paid for the wedding. And I wouldn’t attend it.

I make this promise to you as my mother made this promise to me; I will do my best to raise you up in the way of the Lord. I will do my best to instill in you morals and the laws of our Father in our best interest. Ultimately your choices will be yours. My mother made it very clear to me that my choices were also my responsibilities. Should you make a choice, that choice will be your responsibly. I will be responsible for my children and you will be responsible for yours. I will be a wonderful grandma, but I won’t be a second mother to them. That will be your job and responsibility. And I won’t celebrate your bad choices. I will help you through them and support you to make the best of the bad, but I won’t celebrate them.

Wish #52: Guard your heart, Miss Caroline. It will keep away the mistakes and the heartbreak.

Love always

Pomp and Circumstance

Dear Caroline,

Yesterday your Aunt Leah graduated from high school. The baby did good. My sister graduated with honors in the Class of 2012. She was amazing and enjoyed high school.

I love my family. My sister is one of the best people I know, as is my other sister. Leah and I are five years apart and in many ways we are very much alike. We get asked if we’re twins all the time. And I admit we favor. We have the same taste in movies, and whenever there is a good documentary on History channel, I can usually count on a watching buddy. We both enjoy reading and having deep conversations about our books. But when we were younger, whew! we did not get along. I’m sure if you have spent any amount of time with your Aunt Leah, she will not have wasted any time telling you about how her big sister used to torture her. I’m not sure how much time you will have spent with her, as she hates children. I hope as your grow up she gets over it and you will have a close, fun relationship with her. I know that I have!

As for your (potential) brothers or sisters, we have prayerfully settled on their names. Should you have a sister, her name will be Avery Ann. And if you have brothers, their names will be Robert Jude and Gabriel Arthur. I’ve had a feeling that I will have boys if we ever have biological children. Twins actually. Those are just very premature feelings at this point as we’re not considering have children for at least another eight years. Nor do I want to even consider it. But you must know by now how I feel about dreams!

I am so proud of my baby sister and I cannot wait to be in that moment with you as graduate from high school and college and graduate school and any terminal degree you might pursue. Too soon? Okay let’s focus on getting you here first. Love you baby girl.

Wish #51: I wish for you to remember that not all sibling relationships start out close. Sometimes you need some space and distance to appreciate your family.

Love always 

Mother, Mama, Mom, Mommy

Dear Caroline,

Today is Mother’s Day. I have been blessed with a great mom in many ways. She sacrificed so many things to make sure we were well cared for. She stayed home with us. She played with us. She tucked us in bed and prayed with us each night. She volunteered in our classes and read to us. She did birthdays big. She baked our cakes and let us have sleepovers. She made us feel loved and special. She is my mom and we’re blessed to have her.

I often wonder what makes a mom. Are you a mom when your baby is born? If that is the answer I could be a mom relatively soon. Are you a mom when you find out you’re pregnant? Then I won’t ever be a mom. Are you a mom when you hold your baby for the first time? That is a long way off. I don’t think any of those situations is when you become a mom. I think the answer is when you sacrifice and hold love for your child. I think am already your mom. In my heart I am already a mother to you.

As this Mother’s Day passes, as will another eight or more without the title, I look to some of the other mothers who perhaps are falling down on the job. I am a teacher and I get called mommy or mama at least once a day by sweet little angels whose most important person in their little world is their mom. Over the years I’ve seen little angels whose wings have been bent by their mommies and it makes me sad. The kids with the great moms draw pictures for her every day. Their paintings feature their moms. Every thing we make is followed by “Can I give this to my mom?” Being a mom is about love, responsibility- not because you have to but because you want to, and sacrifice. I can see you in our lives and cannot wait for your arrival and the official title.

Wish #50 (We’re half way there!): I wish for you to have a wonderful independent adult family that includes the title if you’d like it. If you are the person I raised you to be and you’d like to have children, you’d be a great mom.

Love always 

No News is Good News

Dear Caroline,

I have been hesitant to write you lately mostly because of bad news. I didn’t want to write to you too complaining. Perhaps I know that in twenty years it won’t matter or perhaps I don’t want to acknowledge that I am weak. Many things have gone wrong in the last couple of weeks and it has really put us in a tailspin. Stupid petty things like cars breaking and fridges crashing. I feel like screaming may day, may day we’re going down! I have been very blue about our circumstances and very short sided about our future. I don’t want to burden you with our petty problems and no news is good news, right? We love you sweetheart and pray for you every night. I want you to know me. The real me. The uncensored un-mommy me. Maybe this blog needs some real life problems injected in because cars break and fridges full of food will crash and you can get behind on work and kids will give you stomach viruses. And all of these things add up to feeling very blue. I really am sorry for not writing more often and hope to do better even if our circumstances do not improve. I promise to be more honest because I want you to be honest with me. Love you baby girl and see you soon!

Wish #49: I wish for us to share each other’s lives.

Love always