Three Little Words

I. Got. In.

March 13, 2008. As I was at work in the morning, it hit me that it was the 13th. That was significant in two ways: it meant that the wedding was officially six months away (!), and I had a lot of stuff still left to worry about; and it also meant that it had been 1 month to the day since my application to the MPP program was due, and my life was put in the hands of total strangers. I was nervous and trying to cope with the wait right from 4 pm on February 13th; I was certain that I was an excellent candidate, but my fear was that I was up against other excellent candidates.

Every day, I was checkin my SFU email and the status of my application on the Student Information System multiple times, and it was nearly compulsive. I had to start forcing myself to limit my logins to 3 times a day, and as each week past without news, I was getting starting to lose a little hope. My disappointment at no news was more acute than the other days after realizing it was exactly a month to the day.

On Thursday night, after dropping my niece off at the Ferry terminal so she coul spend the weekend with her grandparents and brother, I made my way home, thinking it was just going to be a quiet night. My niece arrived the Wednesday of the week prior for a spring break visit, and we had had a week of highs and lows. She's 13, and a really smart kid, but it gets exhausting trying to entertain someone! I sat down, and messed around with the internets for a while, and then I went to crack open my Outlook. And there it was. The email from the program director. And as I scrolled down to the message, my heart lurched: it could have been a message telling me 'thanks, but no thanks' or a message saying there was something up with my application, or it could be incredibly good news.

I won't sport with your intelligence, you know it was the third possibility. And all I could do was yelp in delight and sit there not saying anything while Rod sat behind me, confused. I. Got. In. Form letter or not, I was especially pleased to read that the selection committee was impressed with my strong application and interest in Public Policy. I will spend the next two years working toward a Master in Public Policy, and then...a world of possibilities lays before me.