Both figuratively and literally.
The West Marshall senior grabbed my attention on many level from the moment she walked in the door yesterday.
I had spied her on the front of the Marshalltown Times-Republican last week as she was a finalist for the annual State Center Rose Queen competition. A quick glance at the picture told me one thing for sure... even though I had never met the young lady...
Miss Wilkinson was TALL.
Seemingly a good half foot taller than the rest of her queen candidate co-horts, Addie was hard to miss. She told me that she was every bit of 6-foot-1 and while my license says that I'm also 6-1... I'm gonna hafta go with the idea that I'm continuing to shrink in my advancing years, because there was no doubt that my guest of honor was taller than I.
More importantly than her physical stature, I quickly learned more about Addie as the session continued.
When I asked her (other than the just completed Rose Festival) what her highlight to the summer was going to be, she didn't even hesitate. As a member of the Marshalltown First Presbyterian Church, she's leaving in a month's time to take a mission trip. South Dakota is the destination, and from the sounds of it, she and her group will be helping an Indian tribe in those parts.
Furthermore, when I probed about future education plans, it was clear, at least at this point, Addie is planning on making the state's regents happy as she will attend Iowa State a year from now to study kinesiology, with eventual post graduate studies at the University of Iowa. Sounds like an awesome plan to me... but I pressed on...
"What do you want to do with that when you're all done, Addie?"
Her answer? Hopefully team up with doctors in Africa to help the less fortunate there.
That gets a wow from this guy.
I shouldn't have been surprised as the pieces were all quickly coming together. A gal with a heart as big as she was tall, Addie's twitter account speaks to her life mission when she quotes scripture from Philippians 2:3...
"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves."
Very cool.
Sure, I only spent a few hours with Addie (and her Diet Mountain Dew spilling side-kick Esperanza... sorry, Espie... you knew I HAD to!), but it was clear to me that she had her compass pointed in the right direction, which made her seem even taller to me.
With the whirlwind that was the Rose Festival, Adelaide barely had time to regroup and prepare for her senior session just a couple of days after the festivities died down, but it was clear that, like most things, Addie took it all in stride. Confident, conversational, unassuming, yet humble (did I mention she was having a great hair day, too?), Miss Wilkinson got our busy week off to a great start.
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