The Secret to Success

“Your results will be ready tomorrow afternoon. All you need to do is visit the administrative office tomorrow after 3:00 p.m., with a valid ID and your results will be provided. However, your written portion will be mailed to D.C. for review and the results should be available within two to three weeks.” “Two to three weeks!” I shouted rudely. “Yes, two to three weeks Mr. Thomas,” the instructor responded. The next day I woke up with a serious knot in my stomach and I was quiet the entire day. I did not have much of an appetite, and I did not feel like being sociable. The test results were the only thing on my mind. I was dressed, out of the house, and at the bus stop one hour early. I made it to the school by 2.30 p.m. and was the first person in the office. I walked up to the window and wrote down my name, time of arrival, and my ID number. About 27 minutes later the receptionist called my name and handed me a manila envelope with my name on the top left corner and said, “Good Luck.” I am generally cordial, but I was so nervous I just grabbed the manila envelope and walked out. I went outside to open the envelope so no one in the room would see my reaction to the scores. I must have walked at least a mile up the street before I opened the envelope thinking to myself, “My life is contained in this small envelope.” I finally opened it and browsed through the scores. Initially, the numbers did not make a lot of sense, but at the bottom of the G.E.D. document there was a section that said you needed at least a 410 in each section and a 450 average, which would equate to 2110 points. I took a deep breath, looked down at my scores and did the mental math. I did not score a 450 in every section but when I added up all the section, I realized I passed with flying colors. Unfortunately, I had mixed emotions. I wanted to run to the nearest payphone and call De, but the last thing I wanted to do was call her and celebrate prematurely only to later find out that I failed the writing portion. In fact, I was more terrified after realizing I passed the first phase than I was taking the test in the first place. I remember thinking I had more to lose now than ever. If I had never taken the test I could always say I would have passed it if I had I taken it, I just did not feel like taking it. That way I would never have to face my fears and I could create this illusion in my mind to prevent me from feeling like a failure. I was good at that. But the stakes were high and there was no turning back at that point. If I failed the written portion, Eric Thomas Is a Complete Failure, would be written in stone forever and my fate would be sealed. So when I finally spoke with De later that day I just told her I had to wait two weeks to get my results. It seemed like the longest two to three weeks of my life, but one random weekday I got a letter from the Department of Education. I remember sitting there looking at it for a while before I opened it. It was pouring rain outside and the wind was whipping against the window in a fierce manner. My eyes began to water and my neck began its infamous twitch. I opened the letter and read slowly. Dear Mr. Thomas the nature of this letter is to inform you that you have successfully completed the written portion of the G.E.D., congratulations. I dropped the letter and took off running down the street in the middle of the rain yelling and screaming uncontrollably. Whoo! Whoo! I ran back inside and grabbed the letter, stuck it in my pocket so it would not get wet, jumped on De’s Honda Spree motorcycle and headed to her to tell her the good news. Riding through the rain with the biggest grin on my face, the only thought on my mind was, “Lookout world, here comes your boy, ET!”

It’s so hard to say goodbye

Going to the next level is not as easy as one may think. People think the only requirement is giving up all the bad habits. That is the easy part. The difficult part about pursuing your dreams is that it often requires us to sacrifice some of the things we cherish. For instance, you may have to sever certain relationships, certain things and certain places. It was the latter that made it so hard for me to say goodbye.