3Martins' Updates

Dear Friends,

Yesterday was to be a big day for us. Shayley was to represent Floyd County in the Regional Spelling Bee in Roanoke,

sponsored by The Roanoke Times and a Scripps Howard qualifying bee for the National Bee.

When Shayley first heard of the National Spelling Bee a couple years ago, it had become her goal to get there. Even when she won her school bee and the County bee,  I had tried to keep her expectations in check since this was her first year (Shayley’s in 5th grade and students up through 8th grade can compete in the bees.) We planned a trip to Krispy Kreme to see donuts made right after the regional bee, regardless of the outcome. She loves cooking and pondering foods, AND eating donuts.

There was a 15 page study guide of words, about a third of which I couldn’t pronounce. When I stumbled, she would laugh and say she needed a better spelling coach (think Laurence Fishburn in Akeelah and the Bee.) But,we knew that was just a guide and other words could be thrown in from the competition (any of nearly 500,000 words in the Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.)

Shayley got a confidence building from her teacher, Alice Hardin, Friday night just before bed. She slept well, except for the dream where she got knocked out in the first round of the regional bee. I, too, had a bee nightmare, dreaming that I overslept and caused us to miss the whole thing.

When Shayley came downstairs Saturday morning, I was making her favorite breakfast of chocolate-chip pancakes. But then she said she didn’t feel so good. She had a lot of congestion, plus she’s prone to acid-reflux trouble, so I was hoping it was those, compounded by nerves and that they would fade away as she got ready. But, no, she spent the entire morning nauseated on the couch, watching the clock knowing we needed to leave by 8:30. It was terrible. We prayed for calm, health and clarity. She vomited at least 3 times at home, and got sicker when she’d stand. Charlie had her sniffing peppermint and trying to drink mint tea. I gave her an antacid when she liked to never swallowed. It didn’t help. At 8:30, though, she said she was ready to walk to the car. Yep, sick again.

It continued. We pulled off in Riner, once right on I-81, once at the rest-area, and once along 581. We carried the pan into the Holiday Inn where we headed straight to the bathroom. She emerged feeling some better. I took the plastic bag out of the pan, left the pan under a bench in the restroom, and put the bag in my purse just in case. We walked into the competition room.

It was great to see by brother Martin, his wife Vicky and our friend Terry Belcher there! We sat down on the front row so Shayley didn’t have to walk very far. Charlie got her some water. She was anxious for the bee to get started. Finally they welcomed everyone and called the contestants out in the order they would spell. Shayley was first. This was good, it meant she would sit closest to the microphones and not have as far to walk. At this point, I was just hoping she would not vomit or pass out on stage, since she hadn’t had the first bite to eat all day and it was 10 a.m.

They did a practice round. The judges said they couldn’t hear Shayley and that she’d have to speak up.

Then it finally began. After she would spell a word, she would look relaxed. I scoped out the competition, assuming that the older kids were likely the toughest competition. They came in every size, shape and color.  A couple were out in the first round. Before you know it, they were down to 8 (from 18, I think) and the pronouncer called for a break. Shayley stepped down and said to us, “This is kind of fun.” Wow. Wow.

She drink a little water and had  a couple bits of pastries they had there, but she said it was too sweet and she didn’t want to risk getting sick again.

They called them up to began again. New words began to be called that hadn’t been on the spelling list. Spellers were knocked out quickly now. It came down to Shayley and a boy from Covington and had been featured in Dan Casey’s Roanoke Times column as one of the two spellers returning from last year’s regional bee.

Before I knew it, he had missed a word. Since Shayley was the first speller of each round, that meant just one word stood between her and a expenses-paid trip to the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC. The pronouncer said the word. I had never heard it. I was trying to think how I might spell it and Shayley was busy asking for definition and language of origin. Some other spellers had done this routinely through out, but she had known the previous words. I knew this meant she wasn’t familiar with the word either and was buying time to think it out. The word was “homuncular.” (I had to look it up just now to see how to spell it!) It means an abnormally small person, though not a dwarf.  

After she spelled it, I didn’t know if it was right, so I was watching the judge. “Correct,” she said. I couldn’t believe it. I was SO happy for Shayley.  Shayley showed almost no visible expression of joy on her face (she explained to me later than she didn’t want to seem to be gloating while the other spellers were still present.) After the ceremony, the Roanoke Times reporter interviewed her and finally one presenter asked her if she was happy. Without smiling, she said yes.

After everyone else was gone, we collected our pan from the restroom. Charlie called his dad and then his brother in Utah. We headed to Krispy Kreme, and the smiles finally emerged. Ah, the sweet taste of victory.

Gratefully,

Lydeana