(43-23) Ask Hershey

Over the summer Nicky had mentioned that he thought he might like to be a Student Council representative and when he came home from school yesterday he told me that they were going to be having elections on Thursday.  Nicky said that he'd have to give a speech which he was nervous about, but that he wanted to try.  I assured him that he was going to do great and told him how proud I was of him.

Nicky wrote his speech and set out to memorize it; (because he thought he had to.)  I thought that he was doing a fantastic job considering how little time he had; but he was getting very frustrated.  Nicky considered giving up.  He told me that he was doing this for both of us and that he was going to run because he wanted to make me proud.  I swore that I couldn't be any more proud of him than I already am and explained that he didn't have to do Student council for me, because I had already done it for myself and that if he WAS going to participate in Student Council it had to be because it was important to him and because he wanted to try and make a difference.

Through all of our talk about Student Council I had a flashback to junior high.  I had decided to run for Student Council Secretary and I remember sitting in my room cutting out little circles of paper because the kids always "made" little buttons to give out and they would stick them on with a pin.  Well Richie Howell saw what I was doing and he couldn't believe his eyes.  Even though I said this was the norm, and it was what everyone did; he didn't want me to make them.  A few nights later he came home from work and handed me a box; and inside I found professionally printed buttons about the size of an English Muffin.  I'm sure that I liked the buttons at first, but I remember feeling terribly embarrassed to give them out.  Like Nicky I had been very shy; but somehow I mustered up the courage to give my speech in the auditorium and ultimately, BIG, professional, buttons and all; I LOST.  This wasn't the end of my Student Government aspirations though; because, in college I was Secretary of the SGA (Student Government Association) for a year and a half and my senior year I was President; and I won without (say it with me) "BIG, professional, buttons."  But my dad was already long gone and he would never know this.  A few years after I graduated from college, a friend from work had introduced me to her brother in-law and his wife.  It turned out that the wife had gone to junior high with me, and one time when we were both at my friend's house, she actually brought my stupid button over to show me and I felt mortified all over again.

I hadn't thought about those buttons for at least 20 years UNTIL last night; and as I tried to help Nicky through his struggle, the one thing that I knew for sure was that this was going to have to be HIS decision.  I told Nicky that quitters never win, and that I didn't want him to give into his fear; but that he was going to have to make this decison for himself.  I suggested that since he didn't know for sure that the speech had to be memorized; he could hold off on deciding until he got to school and if memorization WASN'T necessary; he could give the speech and if it WAS necessary then he could decline.  He thought about it for a while and said "I just can't make up my mind."  With that, Hershey had jumped up onto my lap and proceeded to lay down.  I said "Well, let's ask Hershey.  Hershey, what do you think, should Nicky run for student Council?"  And I SWEAR to you, Hershey nodded twice!!  Both Nicky and I saw it; and we could not believe it.  It was clear as day; and we just laughed and laughed.  I mean I knew that Hershey was a fashion dog; rescuing me from wearing those red sandals like she did a few months ago.  And the other night when I just couldn't get a blog going, she came over and diverted my attention, SO much so that I shut down my laptop and took a break for a while; so now I guess she's my editor too.  But to ANSWER Nicky's question like she did; NOW she's just making me look like a raving loon; but WE know what we saw...
Lyndzi and Kelsie had heard us laughing and so they came to see what all the commotion was about.  We told them about Hershey the answer dog and they started asking her questions as if she was a magic 8 ball; but as luck would have it, she didn't answer them.

Nicky decided to take Hershey's advice and today he gave his speech along with 9 other students.  When I picked him up he told me that each class was going to have 2 reps and that he tied for third place; and that he was happy with that.  I told him that I was INCREDIBLY proud of him; but not for coming in third - for NOT giving up.  I asked if giving the speech was as bad as he'd imagined and he said no and I was relieved.  It really is awful how fear can lead us to talk ourselves out of doing things that are important to us.  Just think what might have happened if we hadn't Asked Hershey...
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING