A Spelling Bee I Could Have Won

As a kid, I always seemed to do well in our classroom spelling bees, but the older I get, the more  my spelling skills seem to be failing me. Yet, this is a spelling bee I could have won.

This was a spelling bee marathon that went sixty rounds before a winner was decided. Exhausting the entire list of approved words last month, the two contestants, a fifth grader and a seventh grader came back to finish up over the weekend.

I don't know about all the words that led up to the winner, but I could have spelled the lat two words given. Sophia, a fifth grader, stumbled when asked to spell the word "stifling". That opened up the door for Kush, a seventh grader to win the bee, by correctly spelling the word "definition."

Somehow, I am sure that most of the other words given in the spelling bee were more difficult than stifling and definition. I'm also pretty sure that all of the kids that were competing can spell a heckuva lot better than me. But, I know those words.I could have spelled those words --even under pressure.

Kush goes on to compete at the National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC in May. My advice to Kush, don't expect any words like stifling and definition.