This Is Why...

Honestly, I put it out of my mind. I was busy after school, reorganizing my room, straightening my desk and preparing for the fourth quarter. Sunny and fairly warm outside, I hurried to finish everything up so I could go home and take Chloe for a walk.

Chloe greeted me when I walked through the door in her typical fashion--impatient whines, running a small crazy circle, waiting for me to pet her and take down the gate so she could race me to the front door. I stood outside with her a minute while she looped through my legs like a cat, not being able to get enough of my touch.  Finally, I went back into the house to change out of my school clothes and put on some walking clothes.

I putzed around. Fed the cat, filled Chloe's water dish, checked the mail. Eventually, I went into change clothes.

The phone rang and I remembered. It's All-State announcement day! It could only be one person on the other line.

My senior, Grace, who's been with me since she was a freshman, "Mrs. Day!  Congratulations--you have TWO students going to All-State this year!"

"You and Sami?" I ask.

"No. Jordan!!!!!!!!  Can you believe it?"  I couldn't, but that's another story.

For Grace, this was a culminating act. She performed at All-State as a freshman, but did not make it back until this year. She is ecstatic! I really don't have to make any calls because she had made them already. I can see her in my mind's eye dancing around her room, with her phone in her hand, a smile as wide as the ocean.

This is why I coach speech for four months of the year. This is why I read speeches and poetry and prose until my eyes bleed. This is why...