On Battles Won & Lost

Hi there, friends.

Today was a great day--our Battle of the Books team went off to compete against 10 other schools from the county for our county's first ever organized Elementary Battle of the Books.  Our kids fought hard and did their best, and while by some accounts we "lost" by not placing 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, I'd argue that we won by having a great time and placing respectably on our first go at this thing.

We came in 7th place overall, but were a mere 5 points away from 5th place.  I'm so proud of these kids.  Let's just get to the list so I can go to bed, okay?

1.  Did I mention that we were only 5 points away from 5th place?  You get 3 points for every question that's posed to your team, and 2 points for answering a rebound from another team.  That means were were just a couple correct answers away from 5th.  That's impressive in my book.

2.  We had so many parents of our team members come out to cheer on the kids today.  It feels so good to get that kind of support--especially for our team that's worked so hard.

3.  Those parents?  Not one of them left without giving me a heartfelt thank you and a hug today.  That love feels good, friends.

4.  I love that I have friends at work (and not at work) who I can complain to about things that are bugging me.  Our kids did a great job today, but I needed to vent for a few minutes to a few different people about something (mostly) unrelated, and it felt good to have people to talk to about it.  I'm one of those people who gets it out of my system that way, you know?

Overall, it was a good day today.  It was long, and intense, but satisfying in the long run to see our team do their best after months of hard work and preparation.  I work with some great people who bring great ideas to the table and who are appreciative of extra effort, and that's always nice, too.

But for now, I'm crawling into bed a bit later than planned.  Here's a thought to marinate on for this day:

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. ~Ecclesiastes 9:11

Have a great week, friends.