S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G B-E-E

For those of you who may have been living under a rock as of late, tomorrow night is the Championship Finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. All day long, the most word savvy kids in the country will face off against the dictionary in Washington, D.C. (and your living room, thanks to the magic of television)! I watch the finals every year on ESPN, and even though there’s a very small chance that I’ll know all of the words that these preteens are able to spell with ease, I love getting the chance to marvel at their abilities and take part as they are recognized for their dedication and massive brain power!

And now it’s confession time. I am proud to admit that I was also a speller in my school days. And by speller, I mean that I won my school bee many times, and even went on to the district level after winning my school system’s bee (read: I am in no way as impressive as the spellers you see on tv). I never made it to the Georgia state level bee or the nationals, but I was featured in my hometown’s newspaper, so that’s pretty much the same thing, right?

Because it just isn’t real in the age of Instagram if there’s no photo, here’s the terribly embarrassing shot of me, clutching my BFF, the dictionary, mere moments after winning the bee with the word “neon.” So difficult, am I right? Although I guess for the newspaper, the word “champ” was too difficult to print correctly. In the headline! Oh the irony.

Please be nice to my 13-year-old self; she hadn’t yet learned the importance of a hair dryer… or bangs to her face shape. Also, don’t forget to tune in to the Scripps National Spelling Bee tomorrow night at 8 pm on ESPN, and I’ll be hitting up the social media, so join me by using #spellingbee!

Were you ever in spelling bees? What’s the most difficult word that you know how to spell?