I’m trying real hard to be the shepherd.

October 22, 2009 – 10:32 pm |

I need your help.

Last night, I had this nightmare. It was the future.  My 8 year-old son had grown.  He was maybe 13 – in junior high.  He was in his first spelling bee.  It was round 2.  They gave him his word.  ”Shepherd,”  said the bee-master.

“Shepherd,”  my son repeated slowly.  The crowd was calm, easy word, good speller, but my heart raced. My palms grew sweaty.  I started to worry.

13 year-old dream-version of 8 began to spell. “S…H…E…P” he began.  He looked up and to the left, he considered.  “H…” he paused for too long. “A-R-D.”

NOOOOO!! I screamed and bolted up in my bed, awake and alert. It was just a dream. Spelling bees are still years in our future. I shook off this terrible nightmare, slid into my slippers and stomped down to the refrigerator.  8’s spelling list hung, guiltily, on the refrigerator.  I grabbed it and the red pen on the counter, and I quickly scribbled out the offending SHEPHARD and replaced it with SHEPHERD.  There. Fixed.  I went back to bed and slept a dreamless sleep.

In the calm light of a new day, I need a second opinion or several. So 8’s spelling list came home with an error, a typo, one tiny little mistake.  Is this really an urgent problem I need to fix?  Should I e-mail the teacher?  Should I shake off my Type A tendencies and just let it go?
What to do? WHAT TO DO? You can vote below.