Words to the wise...

She wins the Spelling Bee at the school level now my babygirl goes to the District level contest. So I'm sitting in the auditorium at the high school with a host of moms, dads, grands brothers, babies and raised hopes that my offspring will be the last one left on the stage of about fifty or so assorted elementary and middle school 10 to 13 year olds destined for Spelling Bee greatness. Once started, hopes are quickly dashed for the first contender as 'waltz' is misspelled. One by one they step to the mic in the first round with a brief introduction of their name and their represented school. It's disheartening to see the light dim for misspelled words like 'muu-muu' and 'petunia'...'typhoon', 'bagel', One boy, nervously steps up. The word penumbra. Can you repeat it? Penumbra. Can you spell it? The crowd bellies up laughs and lift the air of thickness although the boy goes the way of the other seedling wordphobes. One girl misspells cronic as in dr dre...doh!!? So lil' miss brown girl steps up, says her name, school... And the word is 'dreary' but the male announcer bungles his lead in and instead of saying "the word is dreary" he says "your name is 'dreary'" Lil miss sassy in her spritely hand-on-the-hip tone and quick on the uptake comes back with "my name is DREARY?" The audience explodes with laughter. The announcer, flustered, corrects himself with "um, uh...I mean the word is dreary" she then smartly recites "dreary....d-r-e-a-r-y....dreary" The room erupts in claps and chuckles as she sashays back to her seat. A few students later, the word is 'newton' "Can you repeat it?" the boy asks. Still unsure, can you use it in a sentence? "Yes, certainly." The centrifugal force of the condensation reaction combines with the wave-particle duality to reduce molecules of electron configuration and this interpolation is an irrational number of a singular parallel postulate that spins with gravity on a newton reflector. The kid stands there with a blank stare. I sit in my seat with a blank stare. The announcer stands at the podium with a blank stare. The boy gives it his best shot, gets it right and walks away blowing a big sigh. Finally babygirl reaches the mic and my confidence soars until I hear the word. Electoral. I know she knows this one. Maybe she doesn't. I've been plugged into CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS and every station (except Fox) tracking the election. She's asked questions...maybe she's heard the word watching tv with me, hoping she doesn't become an early statistic like the others. My worries are soon unconfirmed as she calmly and confidently rolls the letters off her tongue as if 'electoral' was the second word she learned after 'ma-ma'....YES!!! So on to round two... Ok, now the words are getting trickier and more challenging. Words come like stoic, magnolia...trawl (a large conical net dragged along the sea bottom in fishing), and which is incidently mispelled 'troll' influenza, waffle and obsequious ...and more seats are emptied as they fall like dominoes tripping and stumbling through pronunctions, enunciations and definitions and origin. I cringe each time one slouches away defeated. One girl steps to the mic. The word is cantata. Can you repeat it? Cantata. Can you repeat it again? Cantata. Definition please? A choral composition sung to instrumental accompanionment. Contato? Cantata. Can you repeat it again? Cantata. Origin? Spanish. Can you repeat it again? Cantata. Can you use it in a sentence? The composer's cantata was a success considering the choral arrangement was a last minute addition to his composition. Can you repeat it again? Can-ta-ta. Con-ta-to? Obviously little missy was buying time as she had no clue how to spell the word and about this time, the announcer, as well as the audience's patience, was wearing down thinner than bald tires so she finally stuttered out c-o-n-t-a-t-o after three do-overs...whew!!! I wasn't sad to see her go. Babygirl is up again. Obstinate. Obstinant? Obstinate. Definition please. Fixed and unyielding, as in opinion. She ponders, eyes skyward... "Obstinant....o-b....s-t...i-n-ent....obstinant" My heart sinks...the charlie brown waah-waah-waah plays in my head as I bury my face in my hands. This isn't happening. I rationalize the unfairness of it all. She got a hard word, the others got easy words. I pull myself together-for her. She comes and find me. She's heartbroken, tears are rolling down her cheeks. I console her. Tell her we'll do it next year. I'm hungry, let's go eat. She agrees. We leave.