Thursday, November 02, 2006

The point

I was wired today and wasn't even on coffee.

Sunday (29 Oct) 11 p.m. I surf the college's career center for lists of internships. I find this. With names like "Wall Street Journal" and "The New York Times" and "Associated Press" attached, you know people would kill for these PAID summer internships.
Requirements: Transcript, resume, application filled out, 1 hour test at neighboring university and 500 word essay.
Postmarked deadline: Nov. 1
I close my laptop and climb into bed.

Monday (30 Oct) 10:30 a.m. I call the university to see if the professor can squeeze me in for the test.
3:30 p.m. Find out the professor's sick, but she should be in tomorrow.
8 p.m. E-mail the good professor and hope she's nice.

Tuesday (31 Oct) 8 a.m. Discover the good professor is indeed nice and willing to give me the test today.

8:25 a.m. Realize I'll need to skip my 8:30 a.m. class to get the requirements done.

8:45 a.m. Get a phone call from Mom and tell her the good news. She brings me back to reality. I realize I'll need to skip almost ALL my classes to meet all the requirements.

9-11:30 a.m. Run around madly: resume shredded by my boss, transcript finally in hand, friend(yay Becca!) lets me borrow her car.

11:30 a.m. Becca's car doesn't like me and refuses to reverse. Luckily Todd (who was going to show me the way since I'm severely directionally challenged) decides he'll be a superhero, skip his next class and let me steal a car ride instead. Yay!!

1:30 p.m. I leave the test behind....slightly shaken and awkwardly aware of how little I know about the world, even if my punctuation is admirable....yes....

2:00-3:30 p.m. Madly revising the resume and filling out the application.

3:30-4:30 p.m. Work the girls' lobby desk. Between answering random phones, passer-bys (I wasn't quite as friendly as usual) and stuffing mailboxes, I clattered away at my laptop hoping for 500 words of coherentness.

5:05 p.m. Resume and essay printed, running like a robber toward the mailroom. "Wait!" I yelled to the innocent worker shutting the door as I sprinted down the steps toward him. I dashed inside of the darkening room, snatched an envelope, scribbled an address and begged the mail worker to put a stamp on it. She then informed me that the mail was probably already being picked up behind the building by the post office driver--my chance for the postmark! Grabbing the envelope I dashed outside and waited....and waited.

Forever crawled past me as I hopped from one foot to another in the cold. "Too many things have worked out for hope to stop now," I thought. "It's going to work out. I don't know how, but it's just got to." I consoled myself that no matter what happened I had tried my best, done more than I thought possible and knew somehow God had provided for every step. I didn't know how, but how could I give up hope now?

5:15 p.m. No mailman. Then Zak drove passed, waving. His break lights lit up as I leapted up and down waving after him. "Save my life?" I asked puffing.
"Sure," he said waving to a seat.

And that's how the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund scholarship application made it to the city post office mailbox before the 6 p.m. deadline.

The Point: Whether I actually get the scholarship or not is not the point. That God helped me do something impossible, is.

2 comments:

kris said...

YOU GO GIRL!!!

blue nurse said...

WOW, Becky!! What an insane day! Very very impressive ... I really hope you just fell into bed and sleep for hours and hours after a day like that ... Good luck with the scholarship!! :D