Sami's Senior Year

The last couple of weeks have me exhausted. I think they have all of us exhausted.

College visits:

Saturday, September 17:
We visited Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri. Truman is known as the Harvard of the midwest. Students that attend Truman are above average, high achievers. It's about 3 hours northeast from here. We left Saturday morning about 5:00. It was actually a beautiful drive. It was a little foggy quite a bit of the way and when the sun started to come up, it was a little hard to see through the glare of the sun and fog, but winding country roads most of the way there.

The campus is nice, students friendly and staff professional and each seemed excited about their particular area. We attended the studying abroad and romance language presentations. The study abroad portion was presented by a French professor, actually from France, and he did a great job. Very knowledgeable, passionate and a good speaker who was friendly and helpful.

All in all a good day. We all liked it better than we expected.

Thursday, September 22nd:
Voting for Homecoming King and Queen top 10. Samantha made the 10 ten candidates for Homecoming Queen! In a normal high school in a normal town this would be great, but in this high school and in this town - this is HUGE! In a high school filled with over 1800 students, 42 of which were running for Homecoming Queen, for Sami to have made the top 10 is a major accomplishment.

This week was busy to begin with, but now the search is on to find proper attire to wear for Homecoming festivities. We had to miss our belly dancing class in order to accomplish this all-important task. Shopping, shopping, shopping, but finally we found 1 outfit that would work for the football game.

Friday, September 23rd, DAY:

Day off from work and school to visit Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. Left during an awful thunderstorm at 5:00 am. I, being the brilliant scholar that I am, had it in my head that I would drive in the morning! HA! Luckily we were not killed before we made it somewhere near Blue Springs on I-70 and we pulled over so Tom could drive.

Anyway, our visit was OK, but nothing too thrilling, which really surprised me. It's a nice campus, but nothing really stood out in my mind. Left after the tour and drove 3 hours to Columbia, Missouri.

Friday, September 23rd, EVENING:

Met up with Samantha's friend Drew at the University of Missouri campus. Drew took us for a brief walking tour and to dinner at Shakespeare's Pizza in downtown Columbia. It's a cute little pizza place - very busyand fun they had decent pizza.

Tom and I were a little nervous walking around campus and Columbia during the evening hours and the even the dorms where Drew lived seemed a little scary.

Saturday, September 24th:

Check in at Meet Mizzou Day. Freedom in picking which program and when you wanted to see it. Freedom in when to tour the dorms, see the financial aid program, etc.

I'm still not sure how Tom feels, but so far, this has been the only campus tour I've been on, where I actually got goosebumps. There is a lot of tradition and history to the campus, it's beautiful, the students seem friendly and there seems to be a connection between the college and the city of Columbia that reminds me a little of Northwest, where Sarah goes. I guess it's their pride in the accomplishments of the college and the way the city makes an effort to support the college. Anyway, I went from hating it and praying that Sami doesn't go there on Friday night, to realizing that if she gets to go there, it would be so great for her.

We'll see.........

Sunday, September 25th:

More shopping for the parade outfit. Sami and I went to Zona Rosa and found several things she liked. I think we're done, except for shoes. We got so busy, we forgot about Sami's math tutor, darn!

Tuesday, September 27th:

1st photo shoot for senior pictures! I think Sami had sooo much fun. We really liked the photographer and the shots she did. Sami had 4 outfits for pictures. Some were taken inside the studio and then some outside the studio at the square downtown.

Wednesday, September 28th:

Sami was supposed to get more pictures taken for senior pics, at her favorite spots in Westport, but she got sent home early from school because she had 100+ degree fever. I got her into the doctor right away because the nurse thought it might be mono, she's been so tired. Went to see the doc at 9:30 am, she didn't think it was mono, test for strep throat was negative - yippeee! Doc said it was just a virus, so Sami came home and rested.

Thursday, September 29th:

Sami stayed home to rest again today. Fever is gone and has her appetite back, but wants to make sure she is OK for Homecoming!

Friday, September 30th:

Sarah is home, Tom and I are off from work. The 3 of us went to the high school to watch the pep assembly at 10:30 am. The top 10 ten king/queen candidates will be introduced! Fun and nerve-wracking. Sami did great.

The 3 of us went to El Cerro Grande for lunch, picked up Sarah's friend Stephanie and went down to the square to get ready to watch the parade! The top 10 candidates ride in convertibles and then everyone gathers on the courthouse steps where all the sports teams are presented and cheered for and then the the top 3 candidates for king and queen are announced. I could not believe how nervous I was. I don't know if my stomache EVER felt that way before. I can't imagine how Samantha must've felt.

Unfortunately, she didn't make one of the top 3, but right after the parade, they all had to go the football field to practice for the half time annoucement of the king and queen. Sarah, Steph, Tom and I went to get ice cream and some H2O - it was really warm that day. Then we went over to the field to pick Samantha up after practice.

Got home about 3:30, took a short nap and then left for the football game around 6:00. Samantha and her escort, Dustin were presented along with the other top 10 candidates during half time of the football game.

It seemed very surreal to see her out there walking with a football player. The announcer said she was the daughter of Debbie and Tom, was traveling to Ghana, Africa during second semester and that she would attend a 4 year university to study Spanish and math.

You wouldn't think that having a daughter as a top 10 queen candidate for homecoming would be something so dramatic, but I learned a lot about myself and about our family. Being thrust into the spotlight when you are not used to it, nor seeking it, can make you really unsure of yourself.

I wish our family in Ohio could've been here to see her and support her. She even said to me that she wished they were here. I feel bad about her growing up without close family nearby. Even though there are lots of friends here, it's just not the same.

I felt really inadequate when it came to helping Samantha pick out clothes for the parade and for the football game. I wasn't sure whether I should get really excited about the whole process or not. Of course I wanted her to win, but I didn't want her to think that if she didn't it was an awful tragedy. I wanted her to enjoy the process and have fun, and yet it bothered me to think that people were probably judging her and that truthfully, I would be judging the other girls as well.

Part of the time I was still trying to wrestle with the idea that she wanted to be homecoming queen at all. It still doesn't seem like a Samantha sort of thing to do. I could tell she felt a little out of place being in the running with cheerleaders and pom girls and just being out there in front of sooo many people. I could see that she held herself different than the others, in a good way. She seemed very confident in herself, and yet somehow she wasn't cocky about it.

I have never been more proud of her and I've never been more nervous for her. It has never been more apparent to me that Samantha is truly beautiful on the outside, but more importantly, she's absolutely stunning and amazing on the inside.