So today is one of the happiest days of my life. Today I found out that BOTH Melissa and I passed the North Carolina Bar Exam. Whew! It has been a long journey through law school. It was one of the toughest things I’ve done but it is also one of the most rewarding. Along the way I’ve met so many great people who I am confident I will stay in close contact with. The Class of 2009 really created something to be proud of. Throughout the day I have watched anxiously on Facebook as people update their statuses. One by one we had more and more good news! Melissa and I owe all of this to our family and friends. Without you all we would never had made it through all of this and still been sane. We owe a lot to you all. Now on how we found out…
Every day the mailman has delivered the mail by 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. Today was different. We knew we would get them at the beginning of this week sometime we just didn’t know when. Melissa checked Facebook and one of our classmates was the first to report that the results were in! We were now really nervous. It was about 11:00 a.m. We feared that maybe the mailman delivered it extra early this morning so Melissa went out to check – no mail. For the next hour and a half we literally sat in our bedroom with all of the blinds up and gasped everytime the apartment complex gate rose and we saw a white bumper only to be disappointed when it was a cleaning service, a silver minivan and the other vast number of lightly colored vehicles that somehow closely resemble a postman truck when you are eagerly awaiting them. Finally it had arrived at about 12:30 or 12:45. We waited for 20 minutes as the mailman placed each person’s mail in their box. (Longest 20 minutes in my life!)
Melissa and I agreed that I would go get the mail. I walked down the three flights of stairs and felt the pit in my stomach grow more and more. I got to the mailbox and my shaking hands were able to finally get the key in the tiny slot and open the box. There letters were in the box. Two off white letters (the bar results) and one from College Foundation Inc. (student loan bill! Don’t destroy our one day with the constant reminder!). I got the letters and made eye contact with Melissa as she sat at the window on the third floor and anxiously awaited my return!
I came back in and said, “here we go!” I handed Melissa her envelope and I took mine. We had decided to open them at the same time. As I slid my finger across the sealed envelope I had an incredible sense of peace…maybe it was my body going into shock! I pulled out the letter and flipped it open. It said, “Congratulations!…” I still have no idea what the rest of the letter says (I do know I passed though, I double checked!) . My attention immediately turned to Melissa. I heard her gasp – I didn’t know if it was a gasp sadness or incredible excitement. I looked at her with tears in her eyes and she partially broke a smile. No words were needed. We both passed! We grabbed each other and tears were shed by both of us.
After embracing for several minutes and telling each other how proud we were of one another we called our families. Each person we spoke with shared our excitement and really showed us how much our success meant to them. After calling all of our families we sent e-mails out to others who had been instrumental to our success.
The waiting period was the worst. A month ago when I took the exam I left fairly confident. I knew I had studied as much as anyone for the exam. However, as each day passed so did the shadows of doubt. Over the past couple weeks the anxiety level exponentially increased. It was numbing. But today we are free from the anxiety and fear. Today we are filled with joy and happiness. We are thankful to God for giving us this opportunity.
Finally, throughout this whole process I have been amazed at how little it really means. I know with all I said above it doesn’t really seem that way but I know at the end of the day this is an accomplishment but it is nothing. In my life I have been surrounded by amazing people who go through so much more in one day than I did in all of these days combined. Friends have lost loved ones while others continue to show true bravery as they fight for more time with their families. I learned from all of this is that we are incredibly lucky to have the skill set to pass the bar and be successful in much of what we do. However, the real gift from God is the ability to now look around and see how many great people surround us. We are truly blessed by the love and support that we have. Praise God!
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