Wow. Ok. So today and yesterday were supposed to be filled with me being miserable because David left last night, but (aside from the inevitable and sometimes untimely tears because of said departure) it has been absolutely amazing.

So I entered this scholarship competition with the Canadian War Museum, an essay contest. We were supposed to write about what our families did during the Second World War. Of course, anyone who knows me knows that this topic is right up my alley. So I entered, and freaked out all summer because we were supposed to have gotten the news about the winner by the end of June, which obviously didn't happen. E-mails were sent, and were not responded to. So anyways, yesterday while I was out with David for lunch, this guy from the museum phoned and told my dad that I am one of the finalists, meaning that I got the scholarship! Ahh! So I tried to get a hold of this guy yesterday, but he just wasn't answering his phone. So I phoned again this morning and he told me that I need to get together a whole pile of things to send to him in order to get my scholarship. There's going to be a biography, a picture and my essay on the Canadian War Museum website and there was mention of my name being on a plaque in the museum in Ottawa for having won the award. And oh baby, it only gets better from here.

He mentioned that they were doing something a little bit different this year. There's this conference in Australia about war history and that kind of thing, and they want to send one of the five finalists to this conference, all expenses paid, to give a small talk about Canada's war history, Remembrance Day in Canada, and our own family history to a group of Australian youth! Again, ahh! So the trip is for a week (October 29th to November 5th to be specific) , there's a professor from the University of Ottawa that will be accompanying the winner and some people from Foreign Affairs Canada that will be going too. So the people from the museum aren't choosing the winner for this (they were just taking a poll to see who would be interested-come on, who wouldn't be??!!) it's actually the Foreign Affairs people who will be getting a list of names and accompanying essays to choose from. Ahaha! So yes, mad brainwaves to these people (repeat after me: Give Shannon the trip! The trip!). This has definitely been one of the best days of my life. Wow. The best thing is, I know that I'm ready to take on university. I have proven to myself that I am worthy. Which is actually better than the thousand dollars from the museum.

Wow, I can't stop smiling.