Testing

Today at the high school my girls will be testing. Aly will be taking the ACT (American College Testing) and Avery will be taking a version of the ACT for 9^th graders called The Plan. I was pleasantly surprised this morning as they prepared for the day that they were both up beat and alert. They were talking to each other about how they take tests and what they do once they are done with a section of a test. There was a moment when they were talking about how they always finish a test quickly and then they are embarrassed that they are the first ones done, that I thought to myself, "Whose kids are these?"

I have never enjoyed taking tests and having my children positively giddy at the prospect, made me a little uncomfortable. At one point during the conversation I mentioned that I had never finished a test first. That's when Aly piped in with the comment "That's OK Mom, your pretty." "Gee thanks Aly, that wasn't condescending at all!" I replied. "You act like being pretty is a consolation prize." For the record, I have actually never considered myself pretty either. I did not tell her that since I did not want to belabor the point. Actually, I have always thought that I would be the woman in a novel that would be described as "a handsome woman". A handsome woman to me is someone that is not pretty, but not ugly either, she is sturdy looking and strong emotionally and physically. Anyway, I never was someone who would jump out of bed excited about taking a test.

The fact that the girls were not stressing or worried about the testing is a good thing. I made a point of not making a big deal out of the tests other than making them some scrambled eggs (which I never do), to give them some good protein in their systems and keeping things light and stress free. After today Avery will be done testing, but Aly will have two more days to go. I am confident that she will remain calm and focused since she seems very comfortable with the idea of testing. Over all it will be good to get this testing behind us.

I am hoping that my girls come home this afternoon as exuberant as when they left this morning. I like that they were happy go lucky and ready for a good day. Their attitudes made the morning great for all of us, even the "pretty" ones. Once this testing is over we just have to wait for the results. The ACT testing results for Aly will be sent to a few colleges that she has selected and then we wait to hear if they are interested in having Aly at their college. Soon I won't be asking "Whose kids are these?" I will be wondering, "Where did the time go?"