Dinner at the George household

Sabrina: One of my life goals was to be six feet tall, but it looks like I am never going to achieve that. I am devastated, but I believe I am going to have to resign myself to being a high-heel-wearing short girl.

Rose: I like my height right now. I'm taller than most of the boys in my class.

Calvin: As long as I'm not freakishly small or really, really, really, really, really, really tall, I don't care what my height will be. I can still have pie.

That's my girl

Sabrina: Mom?

Me: Yup.

S: I like my teen books, but I've decided I like adult books better.

Me: Oh, really? Why?

S: The girl characters are too whiny and weak in the teen books.

It's all in your perspective

While at the bookstore yesterday, I got the kids a treat to eat while they were reading their new books. Calvin chose an apple tart. After making a valiant effort at eating it with a fork, he finally gave up and ate it with his hands. This was, predictably, extremely messy.

Rose: Calvin, oh my gosh, look at your hands! They're all covered in --

Calvin: Heaven.

It's so hard to be 12 years old.

It was really hot, and Rose had a couple of gift cards to spend, so we went to the book store yesterday afternoon. She spent some time in the kids'section, picked up a couple of books, put them down, and generally looked sort of uncomfortable.

R: Um, Mom.

Me: Yes, sweetie?

R: I'm not really sure I belong in this section anymore.

Me: Oh, really? Why not?

R: I'm thinking I'm just too old for it now.

So I told her there was a teen section, and she asked where it was. I took her there, being very familiar with its location due to her older sister practically living there. She browsed for a while and then turned to me and said, in a very disgusted voice:

R: Are ALL these books about love?

Me: Pretty much.

R: Then I'm going back to the kids' section.

Tooth Loss Revisited

While we like to be ahead of the game in many things here at the George household, we are ever behind the eight ball in tooth loss. None of my children got their first tooth as babies until they were over a year old. This has translated into late tooth loss. Unfortunately for them, this is hereditary. I also lost my teeth very late. I remember watching every kid in my first grade class get to put up sticker after sticker on the tooth-loss chart, while the column after my name stayed pristine and unsullied. I hated that teacher. I never got anything. By the time I started losing my teeth, nobody was doing charts anymore. Therapy is helping me to deal with this loss.

The delay in tooth loss means that we are still getting visits from the tooth fairy at the George household. Sabrina just lost her last baby tooth last month, and she is well on her way to 14. I cannot tell you how tired I am of reminding that fairy to exchange teeth for money; so tired that often it is forgotten until weeks later when one of my children hands me a letter asking me to deliver it to the tooth fairy, and if I happen to see him, would it be at all possible to let him know that he is obviously showing his age since no money has been delivered on time for quite a while now. There is a general air of weariness around everyone involved in these transactions, a little bit of cynicism, and a wish for it to all be over. Here is the latest note from Rose.

Dear tooth fairy, Here's my stupid, gross tooth that made my mouth look awful. I hope you're happy. Rose :(

What did they say?

We took the kids up to Ashland to see a couple of plays last week. One was Animal Crackers, a completely zany and fun Marx Brothers show. And since we were at the Shakespeare Festival, we thought perhaps we should take the kids to see Romeo and Juliet also. David was preparing the kids before the show started letting them know the play was going to be close to three hours including intermission. Calvin says, "Why does it have to be three hours?" This made the older gentlemen sitting next to me giggle. He said, "I've often wondered the same thing myself."

Later, about 20 to 30 minutes into watching Romeo and Juliet, David leaned over to Calvin.

D: Calvin, do you know what's going on?

C: (disdainfully) Of course. I understand old English, Dad.

D: Great. Can you tell me?

Guess That Will Teach Her to Listen to Me

All eighth graders were required to write a graduation speech and present them to their class. The top few would be chosen for the graduation ceremony. Sabrina panicked. "What if I get picked? I hate speaking in front of people, especially my classmates!" I said, "How many are in your class? 100? What are the chances of you actually getting picked? Just complete the assignment and forget about it."

Two weeks later, she comes storming into the house after school. "I can't believe it! I'm in the finals!" A week after that, "Thanks for that stellar advice, mom. Guess who got picked to give their speech at graduation? And my teacher, who KNOWS I don't like speaking in public, told me I was in and then gave me an evil grin." And because we are also evil and delight in torturing our children, David and I did not let her back out.

I am sure you will not be surprised to hear that she rocked her speech on graduation night. The following is a transcript of her speech. (I have no clue where she got that sarcastic sense of humor. It must be from her father's side of the family.)

Graduation Speech

My name is Sabrina George. When I saw the words "Graduation Speech Draft due Tuesday" on the homework board, fear was struck in my heart. Then, it got worse. My teacher handed us a packet, with prompts and sentence-starters that were so cheesy it was almost funny. And my personal running commentary said, there is no way in the world you are going to write a speech that starts with "I looked back to the day we started at this school, and saw lost little children running around without a clue, and thought, my how we've grown," or "We were challenged, and as a team we overcame those challenges," or something equally cliché. This is middle school, people, not happy-go-lucky Rainbow Land. So I decided to make my speech to you honest.

There have been some extremely rare, extremely special moments (for example, I'm up here speaking to you) and there have also been many moments of chaos, disruption and drama. We've also grown a lot, and before you say, oh no, she's a hypocrite, let me say this: It's true. I'm taller, by at least a half inch. And really, it's more important to take away the few great memories, the little joys, than to think back on middle school and say, wow, it wasn't all that great, really. Especially since it’s hard not to have a good time at this school.

Over the course of this year, I have changed, as well as the rest of you probably have. I have gotten braver, toughing it with no shortage of melodrama through all of the incredible challenges a middle school girl faces. For example, getting a good grade on a test when you were daydreaming about your celebrity crush for the duration of the unit. Or the daunting task of making it through a mini day when you've forgotten your lip gloss. These formidable obstacles help shape a teen, making her stronger. But this isn’t supposed to be all about me, I will acknowledge that the rest of you have become pretty awesome too.

We have done a ton of fun stuff together this year; "studying", enduring spirit rallies, you name it. We also get to see our friends, which is the whole point of school, anyway, right? We love our friends, and some of our best memories are because of them. Our friends help us through the bad times, which means we need them pretty much all through middle school. We also laugh with them, vent to them about our terrible lives, and make memories with them. Our friends being there means we find a way to have a great time and goof off no matter the circumstances. That's part of why this year has been so good.

This school is really awesome, and that helps too. We have great teachers, and two whole free periods for working on our “homework”. And even though we would rather be at home watching TV, listening to music or hanging outside, we have to admit the curriculum is good. I've actually learned a bunch of stuff this year, and getting good grades has been more challenging.

High school is coming. I know that many people "encourage their fellow graduates to look forward" to harder classes and stricter rules, but quite frankly, I'm scared. I keep imagining big things with sharp teeth waiting for me at the end of summer break… High school is going to be new, and different, and we're going to have to grow into it.

This year has been cool overall, and next year, although bound to be fraught with danger, will bring more exciting adventures and challenges. Good luck!