Little Earthquakes

While sitting at dinner tonight with a friend, who's been on pins and needles awaiting news of great importance to her life, we were jolted by a little earthquake. It lasted only seconds...just long enough to rattle your nerves, but not long enough to (pardon the word choice) shake you to your core.

After dinner, I walked with my friend into her apartment to check her mail, to see if the news had arrived. The letter was there, sitting on the little yellow folding chair, just outside her bedroom door. It was not exactly what she wanted to see. In many ways, the news she did get might have been more cruel than what I would have taken to be the worst case scenario; she'd been waiting weeks for this letter, and now she was finding out, to her considerable dismay, that it could take several more months before there was a resolution.

My friend was shocked, and she had a right to be. Few people I know have her dedication and she had given a lot, maybe more than any person should be expected to, in an effort to chase a dream. And now, after all her hard work and persistence, she is sitting in purgatory, awaiting the judgment of people who, if they were able to see her shine, even just for a moment, could spend the rest of their days looking for a more perfect candidate, yet ultimately come to recognize that their search would never yield one better than her.

So, to her...tonight was just a little earthquake. It rattled your nerves, but it shouldn't shake your core. You are made of sterner stuff and don't ever think otherwise.