This time next week, I'll be getting ready to go to dinner with the Vinton campus staff and my fellow Class 19 Team Leaders. It baffles me that this time is already almost here. It was three months ago today that I found out that I was accepted for the position. I remember it like it happened this morning. I was riding in the truck with three of my fire teammates to spend the day harvesting pine cones. Jessi was driving, Jerramie was in the passenger seat, and Sarah was in the backseat with me. I knew that I would hear back from the three campuses that day (since I had interviewed with the Vinton, Vicksburg, and Perry Point campuses) about whether or not I was being offered a position. So, on the way to pluck cones all day, I decided to kick the morning off by checking my email. And there it was. "AmeriCorps NCCC Team Leader Selection -- North Central Region Campus." I cringed, thinking, "oh, they were supposed to call me, so an email must be their way of breaking it easy to me that I wasn't accepted into the job." Reluctantly and nervously, I clicked on the email to open it. And then I screamed. And then I laughed. And then I cried. My truckmates must have thought that I had lost my mind and gone bananas. I would have thought the same thing. Here we were, enjoying a peaceful ride to work, and all of a sudden, the ginger kid starts going bonkers. So why did I start behaving like a crazed lunatic, you ask? This:
I couldn't believe that I had been offered the job, and at my first choice of campuses. Saying that I was ecstatic would be a gross understatement. I knew fairly early on in my NCCC experience that I wanted to apply to be a team leader the following year; it was something I was extremely passionate about, and it's fair to say that I wanted the job more than anything I've ever wanted before in my life. To find out that I had been accepted truly was one of the best moments for me.
It really is hard to believe that this all took place three months ago. So much has happened since then. Pretty soon (very VERY shortly soon) I will be boarding that plane in Charlotte to fly off to Iowa. I already have my bag packed, and am ready to spend some good quality time here at home with family and friends before this journey starts. I'm going to need some solid relaxation before this crazy year begins. And it's going to be epic.
