dear diary (4th grade spelling championship) 03/09/2009`

dear diary,

i can't believe it's been almost 2 months since my last blog! sounds like a catholic confession doesn't it? "forgive me father for i have not blogged"...anyway. a recent conversation happened with a good friend of mine regarding spelling, and it spawned a rant (call it what you want) by me. i hold several titles, "husband, father, son, brother, friend, reigning fire fighter of the year (F.E. alumni will understand this), and one i have forgotten about that i did at one time hold dear to my heart. i was my 4th grade spelling bee champion. why this is so significant, i don't know? what i do know is that i smoked the smartest girl in my class by correctly spelling "canoe". i remember this day like it was many years ago....because it was many years ago. i called out my friend for misspelling the name "aristotle", and thus begins the story of my climb to championship status. a term that will forever be in my vocabulary.

i don't remember much of the day. i remember prior to the spelling bee there was a lot of preperation. letters i didn't think i'd remember were spilling off my tongue faster than my brain could process, and correctly. i was on a roll. one by one, fellow classmates began to sit. one by one, i would watch them all drop their heads in defeat. you see the prize for winning said championship was a bag of bbq potato chips and a cowtail. a perfect combination for any young student in a private school trying not to be hyper. this was my chance to make a name for myself. penny face was the smartest girl in my 4th grade class. she was the smartest girl in every class. it came down to penny and me. words were being spelled correctly for most of our competition. back and forth, back and forth not one of us breaking, not one of us sweating over it either. then finally the word came that stumped penny and thus began my championship reign. i remember verbatim how this went down too...

mrs. dean: "ok penny, your word is canoe, canoe"
penny: "canoe, C-A-N-O-W, canoe"at this point, i turned and looked at her with a grin on my face. i had her, and i knew it, and i let her know that i knew it.
mrs dean: "i'm sorry penny, that is incorrect. ok jason, your word is canoe"
me: (i turned my body to face penny while spelling this. i wanted to see the look on her face as i championed my way to chips and a cowtail)..."canoe, C-A-N-O-E, canoe".

i remember my classmates jumping up and screaming in disbelief that i slaughtered the smartest girl in my 4th grade class. picture ralphie from a christmas story when he day dreamed about how his classmates responded once he turned in his theme. cheers from the joining class stopped their teaching because of the cheers. i enjoyed my chips and cowtail. i ate them in front of penny making delicious sounds that was certainly annoying her. sounds like survivorman makes when he eats something delicious in the wild after not eating for days. yeah, i rubbed it in. this was a great day.

i love you, and i love being a champion

maynard