At the finish line... sort of

Me, with my letter


Today, I received a letter in the mail....

After filing out my personal information, writing 9 mini-essays, procuring three recommendations, attending a four-hour group interview session, going to a half-hour individual session, and waiting to receive an answer impatiently for the better part of two weeks... I finally know.

I have been chosen to be an RA for the First Year halls for the 2007-2008 academic year.

I was originally expecting the letter that would ultimately decide my fate (at least for the next year) on the 20th, so the night of the 19th I tossed and turned and my dreams were loaded with all sorts of possibilities from who I would room with if I wasn't chosen to be an RA to how I would arrange my room if I was.

The 20th came and went, and I didn't get my letter.

"Tomorrow. It should come tomorrow," my RA told me that night.

So, once again I spent a restless night tossing and turning and waking up at ungodly hours hoping for it to be Wednesday. I wrestled with dreams of being accepted and denied and couldn't decide which option seemed more plausible. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but then again, that's what hopes are for.

I crawled out of bed at 6:55 A.M. and went to shower at 7:10 (I wanted to look good when my big moment came). But, I ran into my RA on my way to the shower and she told me my letter would not come today.

"Tomorrow. It's going to come tomorrow," she said again.

"I've lost sleep over this, Duhita!" I half-yelled at her. But, despite it all, I couldn't help but giggle with frustration.

I went about my day as usual, and e-mailed my parents who were just as eager as I to hear from the Office of Residence Life. I let them know that my letter should be coming the next day.

I think it was a combination of the changing weather, the hectic Wednesday I had, and the constant stress of wondering about my RA position that made me sick. I was feeling so sick, in fact that I relegated to taking Nyquil. That's saying a lot. If I were being tortured for information, I'd give my adversaries anything they needed to know as soon as they pulled out the Nyquil with hopes they wouldn't force any on me.

Nyquil is 10% alcohol... so, for my body, that means that after taking it, I have 4 minutes of consciousness remaining. So, without wasting a minute I crawled into bed and, despite my anticipation of the coming morning, fell right to sleep for the next 7 hours.

I didn't even bother to shower before I went bolting upstairs at 7 o'clock to check if my letter had come. It had and I spent the next thirty minutes on the phone with my parents shrieking with excitement, and the rest of the day receiving congratulatory e-mails from my friends and family members.

It’s been a good day. Where do I go from here? Well, I'm hardly "finished." Heck, I'm just now getting started. I have to take the RA training course to learn the rules and responsibilities that go along with the title. I’m so excited to get started, and check back for updates!