She earned an A!

Yesterday when the oldest got in the car she was really excited about something and couldn't wait to show me. I thought it was because she had remembered to check the Girl Scout folder because it looked like she was holding the stuff from the folder behind her backpack. But as soon as she sat down and got her seat belt out she pulled out a paper...

A MATH TEST!

This is huge, she got an A. She detests math. It's torture. I can't blame her either. I hate math too. It's the only reason I am not an engineer today.

At any rate I looked in my rear view mirror and this is basically what I saw.

Then I made her cry, because before I knew it.... I went into "the ugly cry". I was bawling and trying to tell her I was proud of her and that it's a good job and she should keep it up, etc... then her eyes started to tear up and she said "Wow, no one has ever cared before. I used to win awards and no one would come. So, I thought what's the point?"

I told her that she should win the awards for HERSELF. I told her that Grandma (my mother) didn't come to mine either. She came like once. But that it didn't stop me from being and doing my best. I explained that she shouldn't take it personal. I told her that I once had a chance to be president of the honor society at my school and that Grandma basically snorted and said "Oh, so you're going to be president of the nerds." I wanted to make sure she knew that she wasn't singled out and that it was across the board.

I told her that if I had known, I would have been there. To me these things are a big deal because I know how hard they are to get. I was there for her cousins award ceremonies, mother/daughter teas, etc... and that I don't know why the family responds the way it does to that kind of thing.

I shared with her that it was more important to do your best for yourself instead of for others. It's nice to have recognition, but in the end...who knows their accomplishments the best, if it's not yourself? I told her that she shouldn't let anyone get in her way or make her feel bad and miss out on an opportunity because then she will have a lot of regrets. I should know, I let Grandma stop me from doing a lot.

Then we realized people were looking at us as we drove home and at first, we were a little ticked...privacy please...sheesh. Then we remembered we were driving the reindeer van and we could hardly stop laughing.