Pride and Shame

This weekend was son the second's turn to shine. Our school district participates in a competition put on by the local chapter of the Optimist Club. It's a speech competition for students from 12-16 years old. It's really promoted most at the middle school level and my oldest son participated in both 7th and 8th grades. It's a voluntary extracurricular activity and the middle school language arts and social studies teachers tend to encourage a few students from each class to participate each year. Son the first managed to place second (many said he was robbed in 8th grade and should have placed first, but he lost to a child who had a very poignant story to tell). Son the second has been working on his speech since some time last fall.

The rules say that the speech must be on a particular topic - chosen by the Optimist Club - be 3-5 minutes long, be memorized, and contain a certain number of quotes to back up the facts presented. The speakers are judged on poise, content of the speech, delivery, and staying within the guidelines. It's called Oratorical competition and this year's theme was "my biggest challenge". Our middle schooler had some challenge just coming up with something specific to fit to his topic. He takes his own sweet time making any decision, so I suggested decision making. But he came up with his own idea and forged ahead with it.

During all the months of writing, editing, honing, memorizing, and rehearsing, I never once heard his speech. I would periodically tell him he was going to have to recite it at dinner, but then we'd get side-tracked with other conversation and I'd forget.

Normally, the contest is held on a weeknight and it goes very late and we're all tired and cranky by the time it's over. I thought it would be the same this year. But about three weeks ago, I found out they had decided to move it to a Saturday morning. This Saturday morning. Today. I was furious! I had to work this morning! There was no way to swap with anyone, either because the other three people who work Saturdays all had other commitments and I will be out of town with the kids and Jeff for spring break. I really really hated it that I had to miss it. We were hoping that Jeff would be able to record it on the camera, but they don't allow that because it might distract the speakers.

So last night I helped Jeff and R pick out a nice shirt and tie. This morning I drove R up to the school at 7:30 so they could have one more practice before heading over to the competition. Then I went to work. I called them at noon and got voice mail, since they were still in the competition. It was really depressing having to wait to hear the outcome.

Finally, at 12:30, I got a call from Jeff's cell phone. It was R. They were in the car, headed home. He gave his typical eeyore-like Hello. I asked how things went. "They went OK" "Well, how did you do?" "I won first place." "YOU DID?!" "I did."

Of course, I had him do the speech for me when I got home. Of course, he rocked. His topic was "My biggest challenge in life is having a plan" He pointed out that he had an older brother who was a junior in high school and was currently being constantly harassed by mom and dad about his plans for college. He quoted John Lennon, Winston Churchill, and a lot of other people I can't think of right now. It was a good speech. He used some great words! And he delivered it like he'd been doing public speaking all his life. Me, I would have turned scarlett and shaken through the entire thing. But my son took first place, a medal, and a $250 check for his performance.

Damn. I really wish I'd been there.