We attended the Western Spelling Bee tonight because Danielle had secured a spot as an alternate on her 5th grade team from Parma Elementary.  The 5th graders got a late start because a small group of 4th graders were ROCKING every word....seriously, I would never have made it that far....Kenna, Vannah and I were looking at each other like....WHAT?  These kids are brilliant!  They lasted more than 22 rounds.

As an alternate, we weren't sure if Danielle would be needed or not because that all depended on if all the other kids showed up for the competition.  After the 4th grade was finished, I saw her enter the auditorium and stand by the side wall, so I was waving at her, but her principal started speaking to her and I realized they were not just starting to wave at me, but they were waving me over to them....those AHA moments, right?

There were a couple kids who didn't show up for the spelling bee, so they asked Danielle to compete, but she was feeling a lot of anxiety and she was becoming overwhelmed.  I tried to give her a quick pep talk, but I could tell my words to challenge her to face her fears of being in front of people and to give this a shot were not the key to my child's heart in that moment....have you ever had those moments with your kids?

You can decide to push them harder toward the goal (which is always my first inclination) or you can realize this one moment of weakness does not define them forever and they may just need you to tell them it's okay, you love them, and hold them for a little while. So, that happened.......and then we all went to get custard.