Bragging Rights

I know, I know! I haven't blogged in a while. Life has been a little bumpy and aside from hearing President Obama being called "inexperienced" on the Today show by the liberal media (which made me smile), there hasn't been much to blog about.

Until now. ALL parents brag about their children. I understand that we all have the most beautiful, smartest, loving children on the planet. Nothing is more fun to talk about than our kids. I'm definitely a member of that group.

My eldest, lately, has drifted into full-fledged teenage-dom. Forgetting to tell me things, forgetting to remember things, staying up late, texting on the phone, and being down right social. Which, for her, is somewhat new in our world. She's always been shy and reserved, happy to hang with us whatever we happened to be doing.

Thursday night she gets a birthday invite "Text". Boy that does save money! No paper invitations necessary, huh? "Can I go Mom, huh?" Far be it for me to deny my daughter more opportunities to socialize. "Sure," knowing my affirmation just excluded me from attending an adult valentine party around the corner. Still, I knew it was important for her to go. "Oh, and Mom, I need a gift."

It's less than 24 hours til this barely-planned event. "Hon, I'm meeting the realtor in the morning and then I'm going to work in the classroom. I hope I have time." Naturally, she responds: "Me, too!" -- "Oh, and mom, her mom is picking us all up right after school cuz the movie is at 4:30 pm so you just need to bring the present to school."

So much fun for me. Because I love my daughter and she is fairly decent at reciprocating said love, I agree to all of this. This is our life. Seat of our pants. I manage to make it to Safeway and grab a gift card, throw in a gift bag and even find a funny card. Not even time to make one this time around.

Friday. The school bell rings. 3:10 pm. No middle school kids are spilling from the hallways as they normally do. Weird. Oh yeah. It's 100 Merit day which celebrates Academic Achievements for the first semester. Kids who have a 4.0 GPA get a shirt and are supposed to wear it to school, and kids with a 3.5 and above GPA are supposed to wear theirs as well. It seems blaringly discriminatory against the lower scoring GPA kids -- I mean, not everyone is a "smart" kid, but oh well. Mine proudly wore her 4.0. Anyway, I'm waiting and waiting. Celebrations must be running a little long. Finally she is one of the first kids out and I see her in my rearview walking my way. She throws her backpack in my car, thanks me for the cute gift bag and funny card, and says:

"Guess What?! I got another award this year. I got picked for Algebra."

What does this mean? She belongs to an academy with a set group of teachers. Each teacher (math, science, history, etc.) chooses a boy and a girl to receive the academic medal in their subject. Mal got picked for math.

She was so cute. A few days ago she told me everyone calls her a nerd because she's always prepared and seems to know how to do things and helps everyone in class when they need it. When I met her after school she laughingly said: "Now they're really going to tease me about being a nerd!" Cute thing is, her best friend was awarded the honor in science. So it's great to be a nerd if you have a best friend that's one, too! Humbly, last night, she was saying it wasn't because she had the highest grade. It must've just been because of some of the other reasons I mentioned above. It's nice that helpfulness will help you earn an award.

So today I earned the right to brag. Rather, she earned it for me. Nothing better than a sweet, smart, beautiful daughter to help you through life's bumpy patches. Nerds rule!