Last year coaches and students begged and pleaded with Gaby to participate in speech and debate. She refused, and I was so glad. This year, on her own accord she decided she wanted to participate in speech and debate. One of the coaches is in our stake, I visited with her and after tried everything I could to get Gaby to change her mind. She would not sway.
I can handle drama. She's gone a lot, but doesn't leave town very often, and it lasts until the play is over. I can handle tennis, because it only lasts for a short season, they go out of town, but it generally is all in one day. However, speech and debate is a whole other can of worms. I don't know if it's like this everywhere, or if it's because this team is nationally ranked, but the time commitment alone is insane. Gaby stayed every day after school for several hours. They generally would leave early Friday morning and return in the wee hours of the morningn on Sunday. The season starts in October and goes until March.
I have loathed every aspect of this process. In February I was talking to Gaby and just trying to understand why someone would abuse themselves and their poor mother so much over an extra curricular activity. After listening and understanding I know why she was so adamant to continue. It is something she loves and is passionate about. She has gained some really great friends through it all.
Her events were Drama and Congress. Drama is a memorized piece. A monologue more or less, and has to be 8 to 10 minutes long (if I remember correctly). Four participants go into a room with a judge. Each participant performs in front of everyone, the judge ranks them, and then they keep doing it over and over in tournament format. The first time I heard her piece it did make me a little weepy, because she was so good at it. Congress is her true passion they write bills and basically do a mock congress session for hours upon hours. You get so many points for speeches you give, and then again they weed out and advancement keeps happening. Gaby kept setting goals and crushing them in congress. She had a great season.
The fact of the matter is we missed her! It was a super long season, and we missed having her around. In the midst of this she was also participating in theater (going to state, and costume design for the play Women in Black). She is also in the play "Savior of the World" that our stake is producing for Easter and has started taking college classes. I guess she was just trying to prepare me for not being around this summer 😪😥😌.
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