Minutes to Memories

It's been a good day at the Sturgeon house, but more than that, it has been a great day for the scientific community. At the elementary school Science Fair Awards Ceremony we attended tonight, our little scientist took home the red ribbon for 2nd place in the 4th grade division of the "Mathematics & Computers" category, earning her a spot in the regional fair. Never mind the fact that there were only two entries in the "Mathematics & Computers" category; science doesn't take such subjectivity into account. It was a small step for our family, but a GIANT LEAP for chocolate chip cookie projects for all mankind.

The "Chocolate Chip Challenge" took on the age-old question of which brand of chocolate chip cookies has the most chocolate chips per cookie. Hillary's hypothesis was a good one - Chips Ahoy bills itself as such - but in the end, the scientific community was shocked to learn that Chips Ahoy came in LAST PLACE!!! Keebler actually came in first, while even the generic Great Value defeated pre-experiment favorite, Chips Ahoy.

Becoming completely serious, you don't know how proud I am that Hillary brought home a science fair ribbon tonight. She was amazing to me after Katrina - how does a little girl lose everything she owned and be so strong? She seemed to be a rock to me for so long, but the day she and I went to say good-bye to our old house for the last time, she wanted to take one last look at the ditch where many of our belongings lay ground into the mud.

That's when she saw her 2nd grade science fair project. That's when she was reminded that we couldn't find her 3rd place ribbon from that year, a year when LOTS of projects were entered in the "Physics & Engineering" category in the first year she ever tried a science fair. And when she was reminded, she cried a lot, her Katrina emotions rising to the surface.

If I had a choice between saving our furniture and finding that 3rd place ribbon, I would have taken the ribbon hands down. That cheap little white ribbon served as a microcosm, teaching my little girl about loss. And I hated that lesson. But she learned it heroically. And I loved her even more for it.

So I love the picture from tonight. I love that ribbon. And I love that smile that's survived the trials of life at such a young age.