Well, it finally happened. After years of hard work, I finally have an end-date for my education: August 2008. Yes, that’s another full year of school, but this time it’s different; this time…it’s graduate school.
I found out recently that I have been accepted into the Masters of Social Work program at the University of Utah College of Social Work. I was accepted into the Criminal Justice domain. If this confuses you, let me clarify. I will be pursuing my Masters of Social Work degree, but I will be focusing my learning on working with criminal populations.
I’m very happy about this fact considering Criminal Justice has long been a serious interest of mine (I began reading true crime novels at a very young age). Furthermore, I will be learning from one of the most respected people in Juvenile Criminal Justice and I’m very happy about that fact. Of course what this really means is, starting in July, I have a very long year ahead of me; however, the long year is not what is important. The most important thing is I’m almost done. At last, there is a light at the end of what has been a long, dark tunnel.
So, this time last year I was aggressively planning what I was to be doing for the coming summer. For those of you who may not know, I went out to Minneapolis and did summer sales and the decision to go was indeed a serious one.
A year later, I find myself remembering a few things about my experience and I’ll sum it up by saying this: I’ve never loved and hated anything so much in my life. Undoubtedly, the experience changed my life; most definitely for the better.
It’s strange because, as much as I hated the experience towards the end of last summer, I find myself strangely reminiscing on it and regretting that I won’t be returning for a second year. Those of you who were witness to my complaints know how strange this really is. I often find myself remember the feeling that I had at the end of the day when I had a sale or two under my belt. It was an immense sense of satisfaction and accomplishment and, even though I knew I was at zero the next day, I have yet to have that feeling since.
I also find myself thinking about the sense of camaraderie that I developed with several of the guys I worked with. I think about them often and even though their friendship was temporary, each one holds a special place in my memory.
Lastly, but perhaps most important of all, I think about God’s influence in my life during what was really a very tumultuous time. Thinking back on the days I didn’t think I would get through, let alone getting the most miraculous sale anyone had ever heard of, makes me realize how much he really was there for me.
Through it all, I’m still blown away by the knowledge that I made it though an entire summer doing door-to-door sales. I have encountered many people since who were not able to finish even a month doing door-to-door and, though this might be wrong, me succeeding where so many others have failed give me a great sense of pride.
