Happiest Place on Earth

Happiest Place on Earth

Friday, June 21, 2013

General Assembly, Part 1




It is completely unlike me to be on a trip of any kind and to not be blogging it day by day.  I am going to look back on this one and regret it, because the truth is, I already cannot remember half the things I want to…

But I am tired.  I am crazy tired.  In some ways, I am more tired than I am at the end of a 16 hour day at the Magic Kingdom.  And that is really, really tired.  Have I made my point clear?

At this moment, with a cherry coke in hand (and I’m not a huge pop drinker), I am definitely hitting the emotional exhaustion button.  It’s not just about this week.  It’s about the whole quiz season.  I keep saying it (and I know, I know, some of you are going to stop reading my blog if I don’t post something original soon), but I am so proud of Seth and Grace and what they accomplished in quizzing this year, and we didn’t push them to do it.  They far exceeded any expectations we had.

I am the mother of the #64 and #12 quizzers in… the… world.  The word for this is overwhelmed.  Or maybe the word is blessed, because these are two really great kids, both inside and outside of the quizzing world.

Let me take a few moments to give a huge shout out to our regional quiz team!  The team was comprised of 5 Juniors, 1 Sophomore, 2 Freshman, and S & G.  These high school “kids” made S & G feel welcome and became their friends.  I hope that’s what they meant to do, because they are totally stuck with them for life at this point!

This is my favorite team picture...
Except not everyone is in it...
And here they all are:

In addition, Phil and I had a really great time with everyone involved!  I love being a part of the “quiz family”, and although we’ve been around the quiz world for a long time; this year was, in some ways, transitional for us, because we have spent much of the past decade+ away from our home region.  It’s always good to come home.

I admit that I may have resembled some of the crazy moms from shows like “Toddlers & Tiaras” over the past few days.  I promise that I will not wear my T-shirt that says “Seth and Grace’s Mom” on the back of it for the rest of General Assembly… although this has helped people to identify us in the large crowds…  Actually, someone caught up with me today and told me it had been fun to watch “Grace’s Mom” during the quiz.  I’m an introvert, but I cheer pretty loudly for my kids.  I am ever so slightly embarrassed...

Today we made the move from “Quizzing at GA” to just “being at GA”.  We trekked through parts of the exhibit hall and collected free stuff.  We ran into old friends and chatted in hallways and venues.  We enjoyed worship tonight (Miah and Ian both fell asleep, so… you know… I actually got to listen to the entire sermon… fancy that…)  But let me close out this “part 1” with one more thing about this quizzing adventure…

Today, the magnification of what these kids of mine have done in their rookie year of quizzing really hit me.  I think it hit me when I snapped the shot of the scoreboard at the beginning of the exposition round.  


Suddenly, I’m sitting there… on the floor…  taking pictures of my eleven year old daughter… whose image is larger than life on a jumbotron… as she sits on the main platform at General Assembly, chatting with the top quizzer in the world (2 years running) and waiting to start a round.  And I’m just blown away.  And the truth is, I can’t believe I didn’t cry!  


More good years ahead… and in the immediate future, more good days ahead!  Part 2 will most likely focus on the mindless things we do to restore sanity and give ourselves a break!

L.

P.S. 
Uh... yeah...  These guys are here, too:

Wonder what kinds of adventures we can have with this tired bunch...

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