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Christi Diggs
on May 23 2013 - 06:00 AM
A drop of spin, a cup of deception and tsp. politics=Apathy
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Lindsay Metcalf
on May 22 2013 - 06:00 AM
When that tornado siren sounds, I'm in the basement
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mara williams
on May 21 2013 - 06:00 AM
Summer break has this mom on a house upkeep war path.
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Or a David Letterman. Not David Cook. Maybe not even president of the United States.
See, if they did, I’d never be able to watch them perform. Couldn’t watch them in concert. Definitely not witness an inaugural address. Nothing live. The anxiety would be too much. Too intense.You’re talking to a mom who two years running couldn’t watch her son perform in the school Spelling Bee. I was definitely there, wouldn’t have missed it.
But when it came his turn to spell I either covered my eyes or left the auditorium, thankful that toddler was picking that time to be a terror. The pressure of watching oldest under pressure was just too much.
That’s why while watching the National Spelling Bee a few days ago, I didn’t know who I was more in awe of, the spellers or their parents. These adults sat there stoic and supportive hanging on every letter that came out of their children's mouths.
They never covered their eyes, threw up or ran for the door. How could they not do that?I’m more like the mother of US Olympic gymnast Nastia Liukin. Remember Nastia? Her dad was an Olympic gymnast and now is her coach and her mom was a professional in the same sport.
Well, mom Anna apparently stays away from most competitions because the anxiety and pressure are too much. People made a big deal of this during the last Olympics, but I totally understood. Now, she and I differ slightly because I’m so crazy that I’d have to be there in the audience. But if it’s a solo performance in any way, I just wouldn’t be able to physically look at my child while he’s performing.
Heck, I couldn’t even watch Kavya Shivashankar spell her last two words Thursday night. I couldn’t stand not knowing if she would get one of them wrong. I have to know the ending before I watch anything intense like that. But I’m great right before and right afterward. Never a better cheerleader.
So if one of my boys does become president of the United States, I’ll be there right before the speech but run on out to the bathroom during it.
And once it's over, I'll run to the stage and be the first to give him a hug. Just the way it should be.
As I recall, the mother of one of the top spelling bee contestants last year couldn't bear to be in the building when her child was competing. They kept cutting to camera shots of her waiting with a group of people outside.Hey, become a photographer and hide behind the camera. That way you are distracted from the intensity of looking directly at him, and you have a specific job to accomplish. Gotta get the kind you put your eye to, though. No holding it away from you to just look at that little screen--don't think it'd work. A good, stiff drink might help, too, eh? Only half kidding!I am a mom of 7 and when my oldest was competing in wrestling (when he was in hs), he told me I made him so nervous, he couldnt handle it so I couldnt even go. BOO!! but it gets easier as they get older. Speaking of Brad, OOLAAAAALAAA
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