When I was 10 or 11, I participated in a city-wide championship spelling bee. The “bee” contestants were all “winners” from their schools or school districts and it’s been quite a long time, but I think there were probably 100 or so of us in the competition. That’s the truth of the story. I spelled a bunch of hard words in a row and got to go to the big meet. (Once a word-nerd, always a word-nerd.)
Now for the humility footnote: I missed my very first word – and it was only five letters long. I could have spelled “xylophone” or “prestidigitator” – but they didn’t ask me those words. They asked me to spell “easel.” And I did: e-a-s-l-e. At the time I was also taking art lessons and painting on an e-a-s-e-l once a week. The judge leaned into the microphone, said “that is incorrect,” and I went to my seat duly embarrassed. Five letters.
Most folks I know have a junk drawer, and I’m no different. The first drawer closest to the kitchen door is the one – and a not long ago, it refused to open. At first I ignored this inconvenience, but in a fairly short time I realized that although the contents of my junk drawer are a random assemblage of uncategorized “stuff”, I open it a lot. Because you never know. The odd thing I’m looking for just might be in there.
When the unavailable contents of my junk drawer began to really torment me, I stuck my head underneath the cabinet to see if I could fix the problem. The drawer had simply fallen off its “track,” and needed to be pulled out completely and set right. It took awhile, but I finally removed it.
Jason McElwain is only a senior in high school, and he has done two things I’ve never done and certainly never will: sunk six consecutive three-pointers in a varsity basketball game, and sat on Oprah Winfrey’s couch to talk about it.
Jason wasn’t really a player on the varsity team to begin with. He has autism, and was accustomed (and happy) to be on the sidelines, chasing stray balls, gathering up towels, and clapping and encouraging the “real” players at every opportunity. As a reward for his dedication, his coach let him suit up for his very last home game – and to everyone’s shock and surprise, he called Jason to floor with four minutes left in the game.