Grateful Friday

Emma to the rescue.  Mark had rehearsal during his registration time for 10th (!) grade.  I remembered the high intensity, high stakes time Emma used to have doing that and I was nervous.  Also, looking over the list of possible classes and teachers caused my eyes to glaze over.  Mark mostly just wanted PE and to be in classes with his friends.  I asked Emma what she was doing at 3:30 on Thursday and she said she could come over and help me.

Daughters were a brilliant invention.

On Sunday when Braeden and Emma were over, we pored over the schedule and they made their teacher recommendations.  Braeden didn't have experience with as many teachers, but he gave Mark a stirring lecture on taking hard math classes in high school (something he hadn't done) and I appreciated that.

Mark inherited his underachieving inclination from me and his stubbornness from Emma (does it work that way?), so it's nice to have Braeden chime in.  He has infinitely more clout than I do.

We were examining the list of English teachers and they range from no to definitely-no to over-my-dead-body-no.   The one English teacher at the high school who my children haven't had but who I've heard good things about was only teaching Honors English.  "How about Honors English?" I asked Mark.

"No," he said.  "I don't like English so why would I want to do harder English?"

"Do you have to take a test or anything to get into Honors English?" I asked Emma.

"No," she said.  Then she added quietly, "Let's just put him in it."

"Don't tell him," I whispered.  But I didn't need to whisper because Mark wasn't paying a bit of attention.

Soon Emma and I dismissed the boys altogether.  They just kept talking about other things and we needed to focus.

I kept rewriting the list of possible class combinations and Emma said, "Mom, stop writing.  That isn't doing any good."

"It's helping me feel less anxious," I said.

Then Emma banished the boys further.  "You literally walked 5 feet away and we can still hear you and you're bothering us," she said.

And so the boys went into the other room.  They may tower over their sister but when she says jump, they ask how high.

Then Emma took over the writing.  She created two alternate schedules.

I admired her work but asked, "But what will we do if that class doesn't work?  Everything will change."

"Then we'll adjust," Emma said confidently.

*

**

Yesterday, the fated afternoon for registration, Mark ended up not having rehearsal after all.

Adam came home early and he walked in to see us surrounding the computer, getting ready.

"I thought Emma was coming because Mark had rehearsal," he said.

"Mark ended up not having it," I said.  "Ninth graders were excused for registration."

"Then why is Emma here?" Adam asked.

"Competence,"  Emma said, jokingly.

It was absolutely 100% true though.  She was there to be the competent one.  We all knew it.

She listed the teachers in order of priority.  She noted the period and semester for each one.  She was Ready.  At exactly the stroke of 3:30 PM, (Mark did a countdown) she refreshed the page and her little fingers started flying.  She typed and clicked and added at a dizzying pace.  In under two minutes, Mark was registered for every class he wanted (or more accurately the classes Emma and I wanted for him).

What do people without an Emma do?

Mark told her thank you thank you thank you.  "You're the best sister in the world," he said.

Later, I broke the news to him that we'd signed him up for Honors English.

"What?!?"

"Emma and I decided," I told him.  And what could he say to that?