Awards Season

It's the end of January and we are midway through Awards Season for all things entertainment. Last week we watched the Golden Globes on TV and tonight they televised the SAG awards. In about four weeks it will be the Oscars.

I'm not sure why this is still appealing in any way since I haven't seen 90% of the TV shows or movies nominated, and many of the acceptance speeches lack anything that expresses true gratitude. The whole premise is so out of control. There are hours of coverage before the cermonies to see what people are wearing and it's always a little sickening when they feature some actress' earrings that would pay off my mortgage and then some.

So it was a wonderful reality check when my daughter Caitlin came home yesterday from her first competition for Science Olympiad this year. She's been practicing after school twice a week for months getting ready for the invitational in Lisle this past Saturday. She woke up at 5:30 am (did I mention this was a Saturday?)because she had to be at school at 6:30 am so all the car poolers would arrive in time for the 7:30 am start. The dress for the day consisted of $10 team T-Shirts with science related slogans.

Caitlin competed in four events, including ornithology (study of birds in case you were wondering) for which she was most pumped, even asking for Peterson's Guide to Birds of North America for Christmas. Yeah...that would be in the non-fiction genre case. The competition consists of testing in each event and usually lasts all day.

I said this was a Saturday, right?

The awards ceremony began just shy of 5 pm and lasted less than an hour to honor dozens of kids.

Caitlin, who was not sure if she would even be able to compete because she was sick last week for the third time in two months, took first place in three of her four events.

To celebrate Dan took her out Lou Malnati's, because in Caitlin's mind that's better than any Hollywood soire with Wolfgang Puck in the kitchen. She returned home beaming and clanking (all those medals were crashing against each other as she walked) as she strolled across our less than red carpet and after ten minutes of recap for her brother, sister and myself, set herself down in the dining room and began working on her homework for Monday.

That was more inspiring than any acceptance speech from any seven-figure entertainer.