A childhood wish fulfilled at last!

And you were all there to witness it. Yesterday I had the honor of representing the faculty against the students in the Thunder Cup Spelling Bee, ably assisted by Mr. Woods. As a child, I was an excellent speller - so much so that by sixth grade my English teacher excused me from spelling tests and sent me to the library instead. (Maybe that's where it all started?) For whatever reason, my town did not have spelling bees, so I never had the chance to put my skills to the test on local-access TV or compete for scholarships or any other spelling-related glamorous prize.

I will confess that I did not feel good about having to wrest the glory from Nick C., but a game's a game, I suppose, and Nick was very sportsmanlike indeed, as is his habit. The final word was "kaleidoscope," and although it was a major struggle at the time, I have never been more grateful I took Greek in grad school. Well, I might have been more grateful that day I got stuck in an elevator in Athens, but this was a close second.

Now all we have to do is get Arno Weller to ask me to my junior prom and we will pretty much have fixed up any lingering girlhood dreams from my past. Let me know if you find him, OK?