B bee (...his choice of title...)

Monday, November 16th... The day of the grand competition. It was time for the school-wide spelling bee, da-na-na!! Brandon was trembling with trepidation. It finally was his turn. He was given the word...CUP. Da-na-na!! (Now this was a troublesome word because every time he practiced spelling it at home, he'd always begin and end with a snicker or two. Or three.) His lips quivered as if he was suppressing a smile, but he was able to successfully spell it. As the competition continued, Brandon was feeling excellent. Somewhere around the middle, Brandon was given the word STRAIGHTFORWARD. He hesitated for a few moments. He began spelling it. He accidentally left out the R in STRAIGHT. (Instantly, his mom's heart dropped into her stomach, heat spread up her neck onto her face and tears sprang forth, desperately trying to escape her eyelids.) He was told that was incorrect. He was crushed. Swallowed back his tears. After the round ended, Brandon came down to sit with his class. But his devastated mom motioned him to come back to where she was. He sat beside her and willingly let her pull him close to her. He asked her if he had forgotten the R in FORWARD. (That was what he had forgotten a couple of times when practicing at home.) She told him what happened through her flowing tears. He again swallowed back his own tears, determined not to cry. He patiently listened to his heart-broken mom's periodic whispers of praise and pride while the rest of the competition continued on. .......His 'maybe-somewhat-embarrassing' mom was able to pull it together pretty well for the time that remained. Kind of. ;-} As soon as she said bye to Brandon, however, she found her heart flip-flopping in her stomach, the heat spreading again--all over this time, and the tears unabashedly falling. And when she thought about it throughout the rest of the day, and that night, and the next day, those same feelings came back--although not necessarily as overwhelming each time, and not necessarily with crying each time. She thinks she was more rocked by the experience than he was..! She and Brandon have both learned from the event. ...Well, we shall see once next year's bees roll around! :)

P.S. Brandon helped me write the first part of this post...