Our Stupendous Moms

I don't play sports. I had friends from school that played softball, but it wasn't my thing. Part of what I thought was weird about sports was all the traveling for competitions. Who would do that? I thought. It must just be really competitive moms who take their daughters to softball tournaments all throughout the state because my mom would never do that. 

I was wrong.

The first time I qualified for Nationals, I didn't really know anything about it. But it didn't matter, because there was no way we were going. I knew that the national tournament for the spelling bee was in Washington D.C. (at least it was in Akeelah and the Bee), so I figured speech and debate nationals would be there too, and that's a really big deal, so there was no way I was going.

I was wrong. Again.

Turns out, NITOC was in San Diego, which is only a few hours away, so we went. My mom took me. It was crazy. And this year, it's in Colorado, and we're flying there, and that's weird, but my mom's taking me because she's really great and she knows how much it means to me. I love that.

Being that it is Mother's Day, I thought I'd take the time to give a shout-out the moms we all love:

To the mom who is always really encouraging towards the entire team: thank you.
To the mom who transports the extemp boxes everywhere: thank you.
To the mom who takes drives us to tournaments when she doesn't have to: thank you.
To the mom who lets us stay in hotel rooms with her family: thank you.
To the mom who explains when certain scripts can be used for interps: thank you.
To the mom who tells us in exact detail how to improve: thank you.
To the mom who fills out the perfect ballot: thank you.
To the mom who judges a billion rounds at competition: thank you.
To the mom who gives us hugs at breaks: thank you.
To the mom who spends time working on our speeches at club: thank you.
To the mom who takes hours out of her day to work on speeches with us: thank you.
To the mom who meets often with everyone in Apologetics to go over stuff: thank you.
To the mom who judges debate rounds at club and gives great advice: thank you.
To the mom who makes sure that the Extempers are organized: thank you.
To the mom who does tab at every tournament: thank you.
To the mom who plans fun events for us: thank you.
To the mom who prays for us at competitions: thank you.

To the mom who tried to comfort me when I was told I couldn't go on the stage at my first awards ceremony even though I broke, because I didn't know you had to be in tournament dress and showed up in jeans: thank you. You have no idea how much that meant to me. Even though I didn't let you talk to me because I was mad, tired, and otherwise very emotional, it meant a lot because I knew that someone who wasn't even my own mom cared.

To the mom who prayed for me after I gave an impromptu for her that God would do great things in my life: thank you. I love knowing that you feel comfortable doing that, and that you care. Thank you for always being ready and willing to encourage me and give me a hug.

To the mom who was willing to pull me out of public school and give me a fantastic education, who lets me live this crazy life of a CHSADK, who took me to a tournament way back when to see if I would be interested in this debate thing, who pestered some other mom into telling us where the club closest to us was so I could join, who sent me to a speech and debate camp to see if I liked it, who was ok with me wanting to only do interps and not debate right away because it looked like a lot of work, who helps me cut pieces and watches them again and again, who takes me to tournaments even if we have to stay in hotels or fly in an airplane though that's expensive, who drives me to classes despite the fact that I could drive myself so I can do school in the car, who goes along with my crazy schemes and tries to find the perfect speeches, who loves me no matter what, even if I get 5th & Below every round: thank you. I love you.

You're homeschooled. Happy Mother's Day.

my mom and me at NITOC 2010