All Politics is Local

The Child has decided to run for class vice president. There she goes again with that whole gumption thing. And of course, my first thought (note: thought, not word) was "Oh, geez, don't do that. What if you don't win?" (That would be the primal-mother-bear-voice talking). What I said was, "Good luck, honey!"

After dinner she asked if I'd help her write her speech.

"Not tonight, we can work on it tomorrow if you want".

That wasn't good enough, what with her whole "dog with a bone" thing. She wrote her own speech.

I sent her to bed.

She stayed up way past her bedtime practising her speech. Which I considered to be something of a waste of time because there would, no doubt, be significant changes to the text before it was ready for delivery. (That was my William-Shawn-with-a-mechanical-pencil voice).

This morning she asked me to listen to her efforts:

Hello, fellow classmates. I am here because I would like to be our class Vice President.

This is our last year together before we go our separate ways to high school. I believe we should have a fun time together.

Sure, I'm no Joe 4.0, but if I set my mind to something I can get it done. I promise that with me as the Vice President of our class, I will get our class on more field trips than last year*. We should remember our last year together. We don't have to all become best friends and go out from St. G hand in hand. But our 8th grade year should be one to remember.

I promise I will do whatever it takes to get our class to DC and make it an unforgettable experience.

When you are voting, please consider the issues and who has the passion and commitment for this position.

Thank you.

Isn't that a perfectly fine speech? (That's the beaming-with-pride mom voice). You know what I contributed? A little switching of word order and the deletion of 2 passive words.

She really is moving toward that place, both heart-wrenching and desired, where she just doesn't need me as much any more. Except that she still can't drive anywhere. Ha!


*Valid promise, btw, as the 8th grade teacher believes that planning field trips should be the province of the students...if they want it bad enough to do the legwork, they can have it.