Last night one of my nerdiest dreams came true. I was in an adult spelling bee.
It was a fundraiser for Pages & Chapters, a local non-profit organization to promote literacy in urban families. Eleven people competed, and after seven rounds, I got second place.
In case you’re wondering, second place didn’t get a prize. Just, you know, the satisfaction of spelling better than the nine other contestants. And the heartfelt congratulations of my proud husband who knows me well (and realizes that he’d BETTER be proud of me because yes, I took this bee seriously).
When it was down to one other woman and me, I walked up to the microphone. And then? The moderator laughed. She looked at the first word on the eighth round AND LAUGHED.
I knew then this round might be harder than the previous ones. And when she told me my word, I had to admit that, compared to my first word (“barn”), it was, indeed, laughable.
At a spelling bee. With a spelling bee.
The winning (or losing, depending on if you’re me or the winner) word was “soliloquy.” I added an extra “o.”
As I mentioned later on Facebook, “soliloquy” now joins the ranks of all the words I misspelled at a crucial spelling bee juncture AND WILL NEVER MISSPELL AGAIN. “Percale,” “zucchini,” “ulterior” and the oh-so-funny “incompetent” welcome you warmly, soliloquy.
I really do love spelling. And spelling bees. (Not so much bees of the buzzing and stinging kind, though. Duh.) I told Mark on my way home last night that if a spelling board game existed, I would buy it and play the heck out of it. Oh, yes, I would.
I know. I know it’s super nerdy. But you know what? I DON’T EVEN CARE.
Some people love sci-fi movies or video games or fashion magazines or running or any number of things that, in certain crowds, might make them nerdy. Odd. Weird. WHATEVER.
Who cares?
You know how much fun I had competing in an adult spelling bee? TONS. T-O-N-S, tons. And while I might not be nearly as bold and brave as I want my daughter to be when I encourage her to stay weird, I’m happy to be a little weird and wave my spelling flag high.
Soliloquy. Seriously.
Next year I’m totally going to practice. Seriously.
And…do you know…does a spelling board game exist??
I am a total nerd. And what worse I fit into several nerd categories. I like stuff like Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings. I think that my husband’s PS3 is cool. And I am totally into Batman! (Among other super heros.)
As for spelling games? I can only think of Scrabble at the moment. (which I love.)
Wait! There IS one! Called “Beezi” at Amazon. It’s the “spelling bee game”! Hope that’s what you were looking for!
Oh, awesome. I am going to look up that game right now! I might have to put it on my Christmas list! :)
I’m a total spelling freak, too. Never done a real bee, though. Just written contests. I’d love to do an adult bee sometime. But I’m afraid I wouldn’t be very good at it.
Congratulations on second place!
Thanks, Bonnie! Once it came down to competing, I was super nervous about it. After all, it’s not like we often spell words out loud as adults! Thankfully they started with super easy words and eased us into it! :)
Good for you, Mary! I’m a terrible speller, and would promptly forget soliloquy, even after looking it up and practicing! I think the nerdy thing I love is history, as in I’m driving my family crazy by telling them all about the John Adams book I’m reading.
Another nerdy thing I do is to compulsively try to read ALL the materials my two home schooling high schoolers have to read and study. (That only lasts for September and Octoer each year…)
Haha! September and October…the January of the school year, right? :) My husband loves history, too – museums, documentaries on TV, etc. – and to me it’s just boring! Different strokes for different folks, I guess! :)
I hated the spelling bee as a kid. Actually, I didn’t mind the spelling part of spelling bee. I HATED the stand in front of people part of spelling bee. And because of my overwhelming fear of public speaking, I intentionally misspelled words just so I could sit back down. Shameful. Ha.
My nerdy-love know totally shines through when I get to talking about history or literature. But never in front of a large group. ;)
Sharing your love of history and literature in a small group sounds good to me!