The Results...

Wow...today was such a great day! Jason had a dentist appointment at 11:15 so he came and picked me up and we went to his appointment, and they pulled one of his teeth. Poor thing gets really nervous about going to the dentist, but everything turned out fine. Then we went to Jefferson College for the Poetry Slam.

Before I get into that, I just have to announce (once again) how much I love Jason. Our plans changed last minute...he ended up coming to the Poetry Slam with me, standing there for two hours in pain. Note when you have an extraction, you're supposed to go home, lie down and rest. No, he was there to support me.

So we walk in and Word in Motion (a poetry group) started reading some poems they had written and then it was open mic, basically, for students that wanted to get up there and read. I had never been to a poetry slam before. It was actually kind of cool. Of course, I was too chicken to go up there. lol Then, one of the judges of the poetry contest stood up to announce the stats.

75 poets. 129 poems. 5 finalists. I came in 2nd place!!!!!!!!!!!!! The girl who won wasn't even there! The judge asked if any of the finalists wanted to come up and read. There was a bit of silence and I raised my hand and said that I'd read. I was more worried that I would start crying while reading it...and sure enough, I DID! lol I got to the second stanza and started crying. Part of the crowd had left after the slam, and Jason said that I received the biggest applause out of anyone that stood up there and read...and half the people were gone! I was too nervous to even think about that. I know it was well received, but I was trying to stop crying. lol

As I start reading, I look out and I see Jason sitting there trying to take some pictures of me while I'm reading, and I think that is part of why I started crying. This is an "off week", otherwise not an IL weekend. These weeks are always hard because it feels like forever until we're going to see the kids again. I look out and see him, still numb from the novacain...but looking at me in a way that I know he's so proud of me. He was trying to smile and his lip was numb, and it was the cutest thing. haha

They gave each of the finalists some expensive chocolates...and half of my box is gone already. lol We will also have our poems featured on the library website, so I just have to email my poem. Even though I didn't win, to be completely honest with you, I didn't care. I felt like I had already won just because I was a finalist...one of my poems was picked out of 128 others. My very loving and beautiful boyfriend was sitting there to witness this moment. I got the courage to get up in front of a decent crowd of people and read something so heart-wretchingly painful. I had people coming up to Jason and I afterwards saying how much they enjoyed my poem and that I should have read it when everyone was there. That made me feel good.

As we were leaving, Jason put his arm around me and said, "Well done...but you should have won!" Even if he's "a little" bias, it was still sweet. He couldn't talk a whole bunch, but he was trying. He looked at me and said, "But I'm not kissing you!" LOL

So after all of that, we went to get some food before I had to go to work. Now that it's almost 11:00 pm, I need to get to bed because I have to be back at work tomorrow morning.

THANK YOU to all of the people that have either told me in person or sent me emails congratulating me on being a finalist! I really appreciated it! Jason, thank you for being so loving and supportive. Kelly, thank you for working a few hours of my shift for me so I could even go! And thank you to the three little munchkins that have NO IDEA how much I love them.


-Cole-