A Human Doing: Erik's week

24 April 2016

Erik's week

A couple of weeks ago Erik took the ACT test for the first time. I had suggested he do an early one to give him a benchmark. He came home that morning telling me how rough it was. He had put the answers to the reading section on the science section, so then he spent some of his time on the science section copying answers over. He didn't feel like he did well at all in the reading. SOOOOO . . . . he was hoping for just an average score.

On Tuesday he sent me an email in the middle of the day: I got a 32!!!!!!!!! with a screenshot attached.

I was dumbfounded and sent him back a quick congratulations reply and then thought more about it.

A little more than a week was a quick turn around for scores. Kiersten has waited at least 3 or 4 weeks before finding out. He was pulling my leg. I was sure he was in math with his friends who had all decided to pull a fast one on me.

So I emailed him back that I wasn't sure if he was serious because the screenshot didn't have his name. Well, another one came back with his name attached.

I'm still in shock he got such a fantastic score his first time. That sure alleviates the pressure. I'm still a little skeptical, checking the mail daily, waiting for that final notice to come.

He also moved up to first singles in varsity tennis and played a winning match against Tooele. He's got a couple of home games and then region play. Grandma Jules and Katie came to watch. My family is so supportive of my kids and their activities.

Friday I came home to find a heart of tennis balls on my floor. Erik got asked to a dance. The Last Chance Dance. My heart sank a little because Erik still has a month before turning 16. I told him this was going to be his choice, his decision to make.

In the meantime I looked up the date of the dance -- May 21, his 16th birthday. That is pretty much the last chance for a dance since school ends the following Thursday. So I guess that makes it an easy decision.

I wonder if she knew it was his birthday and safe to ask. She's been to our house a couple of times, bringing Erik cookies. And this is not the same girl who brings him cookies to math when he loses tennis matches.

Ah, first date, first dance. I think he's not entirely thrilled about it being on his actual birthday but he'll still have fun and we can celebrate on another day. He spent Friday night working on his answer.