Time travel exists, and let me tell you why. Every time we’re in a staff meeting or sent an email about next year’s volunteer applications, I am instantly transported to January 2014.
I am thrust back to my former self, sitting in a Starbucks in my old neighborhood, re-reading and re-writing my KNOM application for hours and lattes on end. Sending versions to my mom to read and critique. Trying to explain to my references that yes I actually am trying to move to Alaska, yes I know it’s wild but will you just speak on my behalf? Asking my friends if they thought I could actually survive the cold and am I crazy? And maybe I shouldn’t do this, but I know I should, but like WHAT SHOULD I DO?!
I am back in the bedroom of my 5th floor apartment, where the only window I had looked out into other apartments. I left work early and I am on the phone with various staff members of KNOM whose names I instantly forgot due to nerves for my first round of interviews. Figuring out how to sound eager without sounding desperate, how to sell myself more than I have ever tried to before, and reminding myself not to worry about the phone delay.
I am at the airport for the first time in my life, heading to my second round of interviews across the country. Trying to navigate the terminals while I plan on how I will navigate the next year(s) of my life, still questioning and overthinking every decision that has somehow led me to this moment.
And I am running down the stairs telling my parents I just accepted a job in Alaska. And I am running out the door on a warm May evening, and I am laying on my driveway, calling all my friends and telling them to clear their schedules because I leave in less than 3 months.
Back in the present moment, I look around the room and think about how it feels to be on the inside looking out. How some days it feels like I just got here, and we’re already figuring out who is coming next. How I will be teaching and guiding and helping a new crew of volunteers, just as the group before us helped us. And next year’s group will go on to do the same.
So HELLO to the prospective volunteers of 2015-2016. I know you’re out there, and if you’re anything like me, you’ve read your own application so much that you can probably recite it by memory. Don’t hesitate to contact us with questions! And good luck.
