Midterms & 5 Weeks to Go

I submitted my application to Fairbanks today.  A simple sounding task, but as it turns out, not so much.  The process was mainly online, letters of recommendation needed to be collected, scanned, and uploaded, cover letters & resumes typed up.  It was a long process.  The starting over. 

Also, my license plate situation finally came to an end as well today.  I started the license plate process months ago, intially we did not send in the paper work to the state, the bank never asked.  This was in 2010...  A difficult process when a vehicle is bought out of state, then financed in another, yet is driven in a place that does not require registration.  An imagination-land so-to-speak.  Long story short, I finally got my plates. 

My new dilema became license plate screws.  Since plates are not required on the island, I unscrewed the dealer's advertisement, put the screws in a bag, labeled it then forgot to grab them on my move out back in November.  After ordering the wrong ones and no luck recovering the previous mentioned bag, I was stuck...

How does our store here not have license plate screws?  I swung by the local auto shop after work.  There are several disabled vehicles around the garage sitting about.  Surely there must be six that I could get.  I saw the door open, parked my Subaru, went in and talked to the man in charge.  Su.  We exchanged pleasantries, I asked if he had any...

"I ordered the wrong ones," I showed him.  He smiled.  His face so kind, crinkled with age, beautiful really.

"I think I have some." he said as he walked towards a large red tool box.  "I can trade or pay you."

"No, I give them to you free, if I have them."  He said quietly.  "Do you have them here?"  he asked, referring to the license plates.  I nodded.

We walked towards the car.  The sun was shining, it was snowing.  It looked like a snow globe.  It was really beautiful.  The light was striking.  It was whimsical.  "Pretty day."  He said.  "Yeah, it really is."  I said back.

I handed him my new Alaska plates.  I always thought they were so cool, seeing them when I was a kid.

He screwed them on without saying a word.  They were brand new.  Shiny.

He got up.  I had a strong urge to hug him.  He turned walked away, lifted a hand, nodded, and with a gesture of the hand suggesting that it was okay, waved, expecting nothing in return.

I got into my car and smiled.

As soon as I got onto the road.  I wept.  All of it.  Everything. 

And wept.