Town festivals cater to pedestrians.
Yesterday I had a second interview with REI. This is a Big Freaking Deal. That's right, not just a big deal. It's made its way to BFD status.
My interview was at 1 pm, the Schaumburg location. It takes roughly 25 minutes to get from Elgin to Schaumburg. Church is at 10:30 am, in St. Charles. Normally, we make it back to Elgin where my car is parked by 12 pm. That is how it works every Sunday.
Unfortunately, not this Sunday.
The pastor went over in his sermon for the first time I've ever been there. Upon realizing this, my stomach went into panic mode, because I'm one of those anal people that needs to be at an interview a half an hour beforehand to assimilate to her surroundings. When it came to my scholarship interview, I was there two hours early because I budged extra time, then got there earlier than I had anticipated anyway. That's how anal I am.
Moving on.
So Joe went over time, I started to panic, but then I thought, Ashley. Chill. God gave you the interview, he'll take care of the rest. So I stayed put, and I listened. No worries, I'll just be twenty minutes early, not a half hour. Then he announced we were going to have a church prayer over two families. Well obviously I can't leave during those. How rude is that? I can spare five minutes. So I prayed. And I can't lie, I glanced at Anna's watch. Okay, maybe I'll just be fifteen minutes early. That's still okay.
Prayer was done, told my compadres to meet me at the car while I got Allen from the children's lesson (to clarify, he teaches, he does not, in fact, participate). On the road. Check my phone. 12:15 pm. Okay, time to boogie.
Then....bam. Somehow, magically, over the course of an hour and a half, St. Charles suddenly became Fall Festival Traffic Maze. And not the fun kind like Frogger. This was the evil kind, where streets are blocked off, traffic cops actually get distracted by donuts, and the pedestrians take their dear sweet time. It took us fifteen minutes to get out of there. 12:30 pm. Still have to make it to Elgin.
After hitting every red light along the way (four, to be exact), we finally made it to my car, where I did a sweet tuck and roll move while simultaneously unlocking my car and leaping inside. I'm just kidding. But seriously.
12:42 pm and I am speeding...no, not speeding, drag racing down I-90. I am not going to miss this interview. Allen texts me the number to their location, I call up the manager, warn him I may be five to ten minutes late. "We have another interview at three," he says cheerily, "You want to come in for that one instead?" "I can't," I bemoan, passing a semi truck and ducking into a narrow gap in the left lane, "I have a wedding at three." "Oh, uh...well, get here as soon as you can then."
With a renewed sense of purpose I toss the phone behind me into the back seat, grip with wheel tightly and glide through the I-Pass with swift reassurance, the sight of Schaumburg ahead. 12:50 pm. Dang, I'm good.
I turn onto Higgins and weave through traffic like I'm Dirty Harry... or some cheesy 80's cop that weaves through traffic a lot. I make a turn to get onto Golf Rd and... No. No, I did not make a wrong turn. I COULD NOT have made a wrong turn TODAY.
I made a wrong turn. I was too far east on Golf Rd. I had to turn around.
I was still five minutes late, just missing the introductions to the point where I was simply the last person to introduce myself. I answered the questions to the best of my ability. I chatted with one of the other employees. I was honest, I was receptive, but I was still late, and I don't know how they're going to take that.
So now I wait. They let me know whether I got the job sometime this week, by the 16th, they said. I really don't know what to think, and I'm trying my darndest to just give it up to God and let him take care of it. But still. This is REI.
After I left the interview, I proceeded to get lost on my way to the wedding. There are two Main Streets going down Roosevelt Road, did you know?
C'mon God. Throw me a bone.
Yesterday I had a second interview with REI. This is a Big Freaking Deal. That's right, not just a big deal. It's made its way to BFD status.
My interview was at 1 pm, the Schaumburg location. It takes roughly 25 minutes to get from Elgin to Schaumburg. Church is at 10:30 am, in St. Charles. Normally, we make it back to Elgin where my car is parked by 12 pm. That is how it works every Sunday.
Unfortunately, not this Sunday.
The pastor went over in his sermon for the first time I've ever been there. Upon realizing this, my stomach went into panic mode, because I'm one of those anal people that needs to be at an interview a half an hour beforehand to assimilate to her surroundings. When it came to my scholarship interview, I was there two hours early because I budged extra time, then got there earlier than I had anticipated anyway. That's how anal I am.
Moving on.
So Joe went over time, I started to panic, but then I thought, Ashley. Chill. God gave you the interview, he'll take care of the rest. So I stayed put, and I listened. No worries, I'll just be twenty minutes early, not a half hour. Then he announced we were going to have a church prayer over two families. Well obviously I can't leave during those. How rude is that? I can spare five minutes. So I prayed. And I can't lie, I glanced at Anna's watch. Okay, maybe I'll just be fifteen minutes early. That's still okay.
Prayer was done, told my compadres to meet me at the car while I got Allen from the children's lesson (to clarify, he teaches, he does not, in fact, participate). On the road. Check my phone. 12:15 pm. Okay, time to boogie.
Then....bam. Somehow, magically, over the course of an hour and a half, St. Charles suddenly became Fall Festival Traffic Maze. And not the fun kind like Frogger. This was the evil kind, where streets are blocked off, traffic cops actually get distracted by donuts, and the pedestrians take their dear sweet time. It took us fifteen minutes to get out of there. 12:30 pm. Still have to make it to Elgin.
After hitting every red light along the way (four, to be exact), we finally made it to my car, where I did a sweet tuck and roll move while simultaneously unlocking my car and leaping inside. I'm just kidding. But seriously.
12:42 pm and I am speeding...no, not speeding, drag racing down I-90. I am not going to miss this interview. Allen texts me the number to their location, I call up the manager, warn him I may be five to ten minutes late. "We have another interview at three," he says cheerily, "You want to come in for that one instead?" "I can't," I bemoan, passing a semi truck and ducking into a narrow gap in the left lane, "I have a wedding at three." "Oh, uh...well, get here as soon as you can then."
With a renewed sense of purpose I toss the phone behind me into the back seat, grip with wheel tightly and glide through the I-Pass with swift reassurance, the sight of Schaumburg ahead. 12:50 pm. Dang, I'm good.
I turn onto Higgins and weave through traffic like I'm Dirty Harry... or some cheesy 80's cop that weaves through traffic a lot. I make a turn to get onto Golf Rd and... No. No, I did not make a wrong turn. I COULD NOT have made a wrong turn TODAY.
I made a wrong turn. I was too far east on Golf Rd. I had to turn around.
I was still five minutes late, just missing the introductions to the point where I was simply the last person to introduce myself. I answered the questions to the best of my ability. I chatted with one of the other employees. I was honest, I was receptive, but I was still late, and I don't know how they're going to take that.
So now I wait. They let me know whether I got the job sometime this week, by the 16th, they said. I really don't know what to think, and I'm trying my darndest to just give it up to God and let him take care of it. But still. This is REI.
After I left the interview, I proceeded to get lost on my way to the wedding. There are two Main Streets going down Roosevelt Road, did you know?
C'mon God. Throw me a bone.
Where do I see God moving?
In my relationship with Allen. I'm astounded at how calmly he took my hysterics over the phone as he tried to direct me to the ceremony. And I dropped a lot of f-bombs.
What do you hear God saying?
"You need to calm the heck down."
How do I see God at work?
Teaching me how much I really do need to work on when it comes to my patience with others and trust in Him.
