Monday, November 24, 2008

The stars aligned

This morning I was in Orlando. Right now I'm in New York. Here's what happened.

Today was the day of the call, so last night I couldn't sleep. This call could be everything I've wanted since I was 14. So my family and I pile into the car and head to Panama City at 8:30 a.m for a family vacation. At 10 a.m. I get the call:

"Hello, Jessica. How are you?"
"I'm great, thanks."
"I'd like to ask you back to meet our Editor in Chief."
"That's great!"
"Can you be here today or tomorrow?"
"How about tomorrow?"
"Twelve o'clock okay?"
"Um, 12 is fine."
"Great, see you tomorrow."

Half of me was ecstatic, and half of me was terrified. How am I gonna get from the panhandle to New York by tomorrow? Then, the stars aligned.

I get on the phone with a friend who's by a computer. He looks up some flight options for me, none less than $500. Then, my dad, a Delta medallion member, works his magic. He gets on the phone with Delta and books me a flight leaving from Tallahassee at 4:37 that gets me into New York by 9 p.m. and gets me a return flight for 6 p.m. tomorrow that gets me back to Tallahassee by 10:30. Thank God for frequent flier miles, it only cost $180. And thank God Gordon was willing to put me up for a night.

My brother had a tour of FSU planned for 2:00, so my parents dropped me off at the airport before that. It really couldn't have worked out better if we had planned it. There was a little stress with my connecting flight in Atlanta. The flight from Tallahassee was half an hour late, and I only had an hour layover so I had to run to the flight. I barely had time to grab a soda and bag of chips and got to the gate just as they were calling my zone to board.

So here I am in Gordon's apartment, almost exactly 12 hours after I got the call. I flew into LaGuardia for the first time and got the most amazing view of New York at night. We turned a corner and all of the sudden it was lights and buildings as far as the eye could see. Beautiful. The cab fare is also half as much from LaGuardia, so I'll be flying into there from now on.

I better get it now! I'm so close!

Update: To add another twist to the day, I just realized that I forgot shoes! All I have are the white lacey ballet flats I wore to the airport. Looks like a quick trip to H&M is in order before the interview!

2 comments:

Tristan Wheelock said...

Man, that's so exciting you'll have to let me know what happens. Good luck!

Anonymous said...

I'm so excited for you! You are probably there as we speak, and I'm crossing my fingers for you!



(This is Mandy, I'm just not allowed to sign in at school..shhhh.)