I Met A Boy - Something Like A Miracle.

It was 1995.  I had spent the past three years gallivanting around the world and I was ready to stay put for awhile- to get on with life.  I wrote in my journal:

"...I am finally content to be here- it's time for me to be at school and finish my education-- it feels good to feel that inside.  I'm not being tugged elsewhere--  I'm here." 

And I really meant it!  My next journal entry reads:

"Well, I'm sitting here in a Greyhound bus station in Denver, waiting for the 11pm connector bus to Chicago and then on to Washington, D.C.  Can you believe it?  Off on another adventure..."

Ha.

It wasn't my fault!  There were other forces at work.  "Something's calling me to D.C." I wrote. 

It all happened so fast.  I was just going to school, minding my own business when I happened to glance at a flyer by the time clock at work.

 "Researchers needed for a Tri-University Civil War Study at the National Archives, Washington, D.C."

"NO."  I said to myself.  "You're staying put."  And I walked off.

But it nagged and prodded and poked. It all sounded so dreamy.  Right up my dusty old document alley. "Okay," I thought, "I'll just look into it a little."  I made a phone call and found out that the deadline for applicants had passed and interviews were overwith. 

Phew.  That's that.

But I couldn't stop thinking about it for a week.  (Nudge Nudge.)  And one afternoon, I found myself descending the steps to a little building on the edge of campus and knocking on the door of a Professor Wimmer's office.  "The positions are filled." He said.  "I'm sorry."  I turned and was walking out the door when he called: "Wait.  Here- go ahead and fill out this application." 

So I did.  And I turned it in.  And the same afternoon I received a phone call asking me to come in for an interview, ASAP.  And the next thing I knew, they were opening up one more position-- just for me.  Pulling all kinds of strings, just to fit me in.

It was up to me to find a place to live.  They suggested contacting a D.C. based internship program on campus, but doubted there would be a space for me.  I made the call.  There happened to be one last space in their apartment housing in Alexandria.  It was mine. 

It was something like a miracle, the way it all worked out.

A few weeks later, I was on that cross-country bus, heading into one of the greatest experiences of my life.  And in the middle of it all, I met a boy. 

His name was Creighton.