Tomorrow is her last day of junior high...
Wow!
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| Dressed up with her classmates for "Storybook Day" during Spirit Week, in front of the wall her class designed and then built. |
It's hard to believe I was pregnant with her when we moved to Quebec the first time, just over fourteen years ago, to begin French language study.
She was born there... and that's probably why we pronounce her name "Ah-nna," like the French.
My language tutor and I called her "notre petit ananas." She accompanied me to my sessions three times a week. I always had her bundled up because my language tutor smoked like a chimney - but cut way back, kept her windows open and only smoked on her balcony even in the midst of a frigid Canadian winter - wanting to make it so that when we arrived every MWF morning for nearly five months, her apartment only vaguely hinted of that cigarette smell.
She's probably the most introverted one in our family. Even as an infant, she hated the nursery, hated it when Mama left, and was happiest when we were traveling in the car... For then, everyone she loved most was, literally, within arm's reach. And so this unpredictable-never-know-what-to-expect life we lead as missionaries... as strangers in a foreign land only to come back to often feel like strangers where we know we shouldn't be... can be hard on her.
She's had some big moments of discouragement this year. She misses our African life in Niger. She misses her friends. She desperately misses Butterscotch, Beethoven, Sasha, Achilles, Hera, her doves and the hedgehogs that lived in our storage room. She and Nadia (who've claimed each other as BFFs for as long as I can remember) have been more separated at school that almost ever before. But she's also had some huge victories - dyslexia/dysgraphia make school more work for her than it is for the average student... I never hear her complain about the unfairness of it all. And the only class where she receives support any more is Algebra - which is an advanced class. It puts a smile in my heart to see her walking, talking and laughing with her classmates - and I'm still totally fine that she still prefers talking to her girlfriends than she does "the guys!"
She's also got some huge hurdles to face in the relatively near future. Thinking about re-entering a French school system at the high school level when we move back to Quebec next year, Lord-willing? Well, it is pretty terrifying and there have been tears... her, her mama and her daddy have all shed a few together.
She could wallow in that fear, but so far she's shed those tears and then put her smile back on her face and bravely gone back out to push herself like she always does. Volleyball... basketball... violin lessons (and playing in a recital)... signing up for drama class next year... I wonder what's next?
She came home today announcing a pretty awesome score (especially after the curve) on her Algebra final exam... even though last night we'd had a mighty serious discussion, (I was helping her to study) about how poorly she'd budgeted her time while preparing for that one exam.
She really does have the cutest nose of all the Wrights and Wrightlings. We've voted and it was unanimous. Check out her profile sometime!
Nothing seems to knock this girl down for long. When it does happen, she usually doesn't wait around for anyone to give her a hand up, either... instead, popping "out of the snow, like daisies!" to quote a favorite movie.
Some days, I really think, "I wanna be just like her when I grow up..."
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| Can you guess her class theme... and her specific character... for Storybook dress-up day? |
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