I'm done!

I slept in this morning, and it was amazing.  I honestly can't even remember the last time that I went to sleep without setting my alarm, but considering I've spent the past 13 Saturdays studying with Erin at the office, a morning like this one was long overdue.

Yesterday was the big day {the day that I've been dreading since freshman year when I found out that I had to take a test 4 years out of college}, and I am so glad that it's over.  My test started at 8:00 am yesterday morning, so Ben dropped me off at the Convention Center with my "box of fun" {a.k.a. my crate with wheels that's full of binders and reference materials} on his way to work.

I was so nervous that you could literally see my heart pounding through my shirt, but as soon as I got there, got in line, and started talking to Erin and a couple of other people that I hadn't seen since college graduation {was that really almost 5 years ago?}, I started to a calm down a little.  I tried to remind myself that there really wasn't anything else that I could do at that point and to just do the best that I could.

Overall, the test went okay.  Some of the problems seemed really easy {so easy that I wondered if I was missing something}, and some of them literally came out of nowhere.  The ones that I thought would for sure be on there weren't, and there were a lot more conceptual problems that I thought there would be, but the ones that stumped me would have stumped me no matter how many more hours I had studied, so I felt decently prepared.  Originally, I was also worried about finishing the entire test in the amount of time that they give you, but that really wasn't a problem.  I finished the 4-hour morning session with a few minutes to spare, and I finished the 4-hour afternoon session early enough to go back and check my answers, which is a good thing because I found 2 stupid mistakes.  When I got out of the test, I had a huge smile on my face.  Not necessarily because I did that great but just because I was so excited to be done!  I can finally have my life back, and I can finally get back to doing the things that I've been putting off for 3 months.

Ben was outside waiting for me, and as soon as I got in the truck, we were on our way to the WTS gala.  Our chapter has a gala every year to recognize our scholarship and award winners, and because I am this year's scholarship committee chair, I was scheduled to speak in front of a ballroom full of professionals at 6:30 that evening.  Considering I didn't get to the truck till about 5:50, we flew up IH-35 {as fast as you can fly up IH-35 during rush hour on a Friday} to the Doubletree Hotel and got there with a few minutes to spare.  I met the scholarship winners, made sure that I knew how to pronounce all of their names, and sat down at the dinner table only to get right back up to present the scholarship recipients with their checks and certificates.  My presentation was a little rocky considering the only time that I spent rehearsing was the time that we spent on our drive up there after the test, but I made it through, and that's all that really matters.  After the program, we had a casino night, so I spent the rest of the evening gambling the night away with friends and co-workers.  At the end of the night, we cashed in our chips for raffle tickets, and I actually ended up winning 3 things!  A massage gift certificate, a Chuy's gift certificate, and a basket filled with an assortment of Texas white wines.  Nobody could believe that I won so many times, but I have to admit, I use a little secret that my mom taught me when I was little, and obviously, it works.  So thanks, Mom. :)  I left the hotel at 11:00 at night feeling happy and exhausted, and I crashed as soon as we got home.

I am so glad that yesterday is over, and I am thrilled that I am done with all of the studying.  Thanks so much to all of you for being so supportive over the last 3 months and especially in the last few days.  I really appreciate all of the phone calls, texts, hugs, prayers, Tiff's Treats, and flowers, and in the midst of all the stress and worry, I have never before felt so blessed to have such wonderful friends, family, and co-workers.  I find out whether or not I passed in about 2 months {crazy, huh?}, and I promise to keep all of you posted.  Keep your fingers crossed.  I definitely do not want to go through all of this again, and I'm pretty sure none of you do either.