Bee Week: Recapping

We arrived back yesterday afternoon just in time for Numbers Six and Seven to rest a bit before their Ballet dress rehearsal.  (She was invited to represent South Dakota on the stage during the finals but chose instead to return and not miss her ballet dress rehearsal). We are all still buzzing from the busy week... what an unforgettable experience. Number Six is very shy and didn't really get to know a lot of people, and I didn't push it as she had enough going on! (For those who know me personally you can imagine my super-human effort to not try to meet and chat with the thousands of people around me--but I was being the super-speller's mother and her wishes prevailed!) Overall we were so pleased at how polite, friendly and just respectful and positive everyone was. Sitting and watching others spell was a huge learning experience, and so was watching the recorded finals on TV this morning.

Husband captured these stills from watching the preliminaries at home on ESPN3. I am so glad because I couldn't see this screen from the live competition. The sequence is great: first she comes forth, composed and calm, then she hears the word and shows confidence: so did I--we had studied the word, and I knew she knew it well. The last image shows her spelling it, correctly and confidently!

Pfeffernuss was the second word she spelled correctly in the preliminaries. Basmati was the first one. (All of our love for Indian food pays off!) She got three points for each, but together with the written test she was three points short of the semi-finals! (See last post for those words). Still, her correct spelling in the preliminaries and her composed, calm poise made us the proudest of parents and siblings.

I thank God for such a daughter. Her methodical, discipline studiousness and responsible character will bring her many more rewards than just the National Spelling Bee in this life--and the next.