My New Adventure!

(Me working on registration and my test) (Photo taken by John Palmer)

Last Wednesday started with coffee! Okay just kidding, actually it started out with a cuddly, purring kitten snuggled up against my face. My alarm went off and I needed to get up and ready to leave the house, but little Danni decided that I should stay with him instead. I never knew that somehow a little purring ball of fur could possess the power to put me back to sleep. I felt like the worst person on the planet to leave him, even though I knew my mom and sisters would love on him.

So what was my adventure?!! I'll get to it.... Okay no, I'll spill it now! I went to get registered for my GED!

My adopted dad, John (a man who has been like another dad to me), pulled into the driveway at around 11:30 (actually a bit after, as he was late; he insists he wasn't late). I didn't need to be at my appointment for orientation till 1:00 so that meant we had time for coffee! There is this amazing little coffee shop, Sweet Seasons, that I absolutely love!  They are the best! John had never been there so when he suggested coffee, I insisted on Sweet Seasons though it meant turning around. Either I am terrible at giving directions or he is terrible at listening and since I prefer the latter, that's what I am going with.

Once inside the coffee shop I ordered my usual, a honey lavender latte, he ordered an ICED tea and we got two chocolate chip cookies. I'm not really sure if anything could go worse when introducing a new place to a friend.... We received our order and headed out, about halfway to the car he mentioned that his tea was really hot and burning his hand. I thought it was funny because it honestly couldn't be that hot! I handed him my coffee and took his tea, it was WAY hotter than my coffee! So they gave him hot tea instead of iced and not just hot, but extra hot. And not to jump ahead of myself here but hours later it was still warm and melting through the cup and making a mess in his cup holder. I couldn't help but laugh about it; it was pretty funny. Sadly, he isn't a fan of my favorite coffee shop.

We pulled up to the school for GED, its an old brick building that to me looked a bit like it could almost be abandoned. I was super nervous and anxious, thoughts ran through my head at a terribly fast pace. My face felt hot, my chest felt tight and all I wanted was to be back home. I had never before in my life set foot inside of a school, I was always home schooled, so school was at home. I had heard things and been told things all my life about public schools and teachers that made my anxiety worse. I'm not even sure what I was expecting, hard faced, cold people inside that building that would view me as just another person, another bother that they had to help get an education. Unkind, not understanding, uncaring. They would see how far behind I was and think it would be too much of a bother for them. I was thankful for the coffee I had in my hand but it didn't do much to calm my fears.

We headed in and asked a woman where we were supposed to go for my appointment; kindly, she directed us to the front desk. The woman at the front desk got a file and got my info ready and then led us to the room used for testing. The woman who had directed us to the office would be doing the registration. She was super sweet and kind. (John thought she was cute, and I was going to try to get her number for him but forgot.) She had me take a reading test to see what I would level at so they would know what class to put me in. To my horror it was timed, and yet she said not to stress or worry about it! I blocked out the time and got started. In the back of my head I was freaking out and worried about failure and not doing good enough. When time was up and she came back to where I was sitting she checked the score and told me I scored very high and would be in one of the upper classes. We discussed classes and what one I would take; I'll be doing evening classes online as I don't have transportation right now. I think its Monday-Wednesday from 5 to 8:30. I was hoping that they would have had either morning or afternoon online classes, but those are all in person. If I eventually want to switch over to in-person for morning or afternoon or even change a few classes here and there for in-person, she said I could do that. She said she thinks I would do better and be able to go faster if I did the in-person, but she thinks I'll do fine online as well. They also have career training programs that she mentioned to me; I'm eventually thinking about checking into those. I should have asked if they have a test to help me find something I will both be good at and enjoy doing. I'll ask later. I start classes on November 28th.

I hate that I went in so scared, but its okay. Not everything is how we may have been told, raised to believe or even how or what we might think. And that's something that I'm still learning, and it's okay and it takes time to get that reinforced in my brain. They were all so kind, sweet, and understanding. They said they are there for me and want me to succeed. That's what they are there for, to help adults succeed.

I left feeling super-confident and happy, even thinking about college and getting my permit so I can learn to drive! Yes I know, one thing at a time, one day at a time, one step at a time and one moment at a time.

John then took me to lunch at some restaurant (I can't remember the name). I got this amazing grilled chicken; it came with a lemon slice on top. I asked John what it was for and he said probably for squeezing over the chicken. Well he didn't tell me not to squeeze all of the juice over the chicken... so... yeah.... The chicken was amazing until I touched that lemon... All I could taste was the lemon, sour and more sour with each bite. I just couldn't finish it, and all John could do was laugh at me. He said, "I didn't say to squeeze all of it over the chicken." Me: "Well, you also didn't say not to."

After lunch we went to his place to get some stuff done. He taught me how to use a drill and I helped remove shelving from the closet, outlet covers from the walls, and remove a tricky blind from the window. It was so great learning something new. I was super-excited after having done registration for GED that I was driving him nuts with all my chatter and I'm sure he was happy to be rid of me after he brought me to the church. He is part of the Divorce Care group that my mom attends. So while they are in group I am sitting here in another room in Kids Zone typing out this blog post. The only thing that would make writing this post better, would be drinking a coffee at the same time. 

I still can't believe that I'm actually going to take GED classes and that I'm now registered and ready to take them! I'm already excited, but it also hasn't fully hit me yet! I'll share updates on how it's going with the GED as I work towards it. I'm wondering how long till I'm ready for the tests, but I shouldn't get too far ahead of myself here.

                                                           (This is little Danni)

Much love, 

Esther