in sixth grade, we kept our spelling words until we spelled them right on the test. fifteen years later, i still remember how long i had "beginning" on my list.

trust me, it was a long time.

my dad couldn't figure that out. "how many ways are there to spell it??" he would ask me. turns out, there are lots of letters that can be doubled (or not) in a variety of incorrect forms.

today, a little girl came up to me and asked me: "how do you spell 'beginning'?"

and i feel my life has come full circle. i just hope i spelled it right for her.