The Spelling Bee

Confession: I rarely look through my kids' backpacks when they come home from school.

My excuse: I am usually getting home from work myself or I am busy teaching piano at the appointed "look in the backpack" hour. Plus if you actually look in their backpacks, you instantly have sheets and sheets of multi-colored paper strewn all over the nicely cleaned kitchen. (Ok, so the kitchen may not have been clean to begin with, but the paper only makes it worse.)

Result: I usually miss things like upcoming projects, release forms that need to be signed, and notes from the PTA in search of volunteers. Dang about the PTA...

Loop Hole: Natalie, who always looks in her kids' backpacks and whose son is in Caleb's class, is always so good to tell me when things need to be signed and when projects are due. (Book project due this Friday. Right, Natalie?)

I guess the planets must have been perfectly aligned a couple of weeks ago, because Caleb brought home a letter that somehow actually made it into my hands, and I saw it with my own eyes. It wasn't a release form, a school letter, or even a report card. Instead, it was a letter informing me and congratulating him for taking first place in his class Spelling Bee. First place! My sweet Caleb! It was one of those moments where my heart swelled up with pride and my eyes watered a bit, as I realized what a great accomplishment this was for him. He took the humble approach by smiling, shrugging his shoulders, and then running down to play Madden Football on the X Box 360.

Because Caleb had taken first place in his class, he would be competing in the school wide Spelling Bee January 20. And along with his celebratory letter was a list of words for him to study for the upcoming event.

Then I looked at the list...

Words like "phlebotomy" and "silhouetted," "narcissistic" and "camouflage" were printed all over the page. There were words I couldn't even pronounce on the list, and most definitely words that I couldn't spell either. I had to do the "you've got to be kidding me" laugh as I hung the list on the door for all of us to help Caleb practice over the long weekend.

The day for the school Spelling Bee arrived, and I was there (thanks to Natalie for reminding me) to be able to watch him. I know I had to be more nervous for him than he was. His cousin Connor came in with a little yellow sticky note that simply said "CALEB!" on it that he raised high in the air from the audience to show his support and love for his cousin. And the row of girls behind me all stood up and cheered for him when his name was called. (I turned around and thanked them for cheering and told them I was Caleb's mom, which caused them to erupt into a fit of embarrassed giggles). I was moved to tears as I watched Caleb's friends cheer him on in their own ways.

I know you are all expecting me to say that Caleb was one of the three winners who will compete at the district level, but he was not. He missed a word early in one of the rounds and graciously came off the stand and sat in the chairs as he waited for the Spelling Bee to finish. I kept looking over at him to see if he was okay. I had to resist every motherly urge to run over across the room and throw my arms around him and offer the comfort that I thought he needed. But every time I looked over at him, he was smiling. I couldn't believe how proud of him I was of him. Connor even came over to him after it was all over, still holding his yellow sticky note, and said to him, "You're still #1 to me." Oh my heck....Here come the water works from the mom! What an experience it was for me to be a part of it all, simply by watching.

All of this spelling bee mumbo-jumbo got me thinking a bit. I have always thought of myself as a "good speller." (For all off you eager to point out that "speller" is not really a real word, it is! I looked it up.) I cringe and even snicker at misspelled words in public places. My favorite example was while serving a mission in San Antonio there was a laundromat that had a huge banner hanging from its awning proudly proclaiming:

"Under New Mengament!"

Not exactly the kind of message you want to get out to all your potential customers, if you ask me. It still makes me giggle to think about it. And here is another one from when I was working with my dad at Lagoon last spring. This box was in our booth, and Dad and I both had a good snicker about it.

But as proud as I may be of my self-proclaimed ability to spell, I will be the first to admit that there are still many (MANY) words that I misspell frequently (every single time). So in honor of my "super speller" son, Caleb, who could probably spell these words in his sleep, I share them with you. And just so you know, yes, I had to look up every single one of these words for this post. Whoever said that you have to know how to spell a word before you look it up has never used dictionary.reference.com before.

diarrhea- We might as well start out with the gross stuff. I have never been able to spell this word. Never. I tried once to respond to a friend of mine on Facebook and tried 4 different variations of the word before I finally just said, "the runs."

rhythm- For some reason, I keep adding an "N" to this word after the "M." Words like "column" and "hymn" both have "N's" after all! I have also been known to leave out one of the "H's". Not good for a piano teacher who teaches rhythmn...rythm.. (Sigh...)

speechless- I am embarrassed about this one. I always thought it was "speachless" and was getting quite huffy at my spell check until I finally looked it up. Guess what? My spell check was right. I hate it when that happens. It's hard to leave someone speechless, if you can't even spell the dang word.

Albuquerque-Seriously? Who thought up this name for a city? It's brutal. Cruel and unusual, if you ask me. I'm sure it is a lovely place, and has produced some of the finest people around (Mike and Jen), but I still can't spell it. I cheated and looked it up once and then taught it to my phone so it comes out perfect every time. Sometimes predictive text is a beautiful thing.

embarrassed-I tend to use this word frequently, since it applies to my life in so many ways. You think I would know how to spell it. I am embarrassed to say that I was leaving out one of the "R's" until very recently. The real irony, of course, is that I was embarrassing myself even more in the process by spelling it incorrectly all this time. Yay me.

casserole- I know! I know! Every single LDS woman should be born knowing how to spell this word. I thought I was one of them until one of the kids spelled it at the spelling bee and I thought, "Dang! He got it wrong!" To which the judge said, "That is correct."
I. Am. Brilliant.

conscientious- Give me a break. Can YOU spell it?

forty- Embarrassing story on this one. One day one of the gals I work with in the preschool was complaining about how many people misspell "forty" on their tuition checks by spelling it "fourty." I believe she said something into the air like "C'mon people! You should all know how to spell 'forty' correctly since the 4th grade!" To which I replied, "No kidding! Dumb people!" And then I instantly made a note in my head to never EVER again spell it "fourty" again.
Some people indeed!

And would anyone care to guess what one of the most misspelled words in the English language is?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Bueller?

It's not "broccoli," or "vacuum," "chihuahua," or even "chrysanthemum."

It's the word "misspell."

And what could be more embarrassing than to misspell the name of the problem?