Just wanted to share with everyone....

I just wanted to share an essay that my daughter wrote for school. I got chills through most of it and cried at the end. I hope everyone that reads it enjoys it half as much as I did.....

So help me God, by Kristian

My eyelids felt heavy and I stifled a yawn as I waited for my parents to get into the truck. The past fourteen hours weighed on my shoulders like the world on Atlas. I almost cried with happiness and relief when they finally slammed the doors shut and started the truck, me bumping along between the two people who supported me and encouraged me through one of the hardest ordeals of my life. It was near a half hour drive home and I couldn’t wait. The word home echoed in my ears, something that I missed so much in only two short days. I leaned my head back, fighting the gravity pulling on my eyelids. Finally I gave in and the longest day of my life replayed over and over again.
The process itself was long and hard, something I couldn’t forget if I tried. I can remember being nervous on the way to the hotel, being crammed past capacity in a small shuttle with people I didn’t know. When we got there, I felt so out of place, like I didn’t belong, cautiously looking around trying to find where I needed to go. Being hauled from one room to the next, listening and trying to comprehend what one Officer was saying while filling out a paper another Officer had given me and then trying check in on time. When I finally opened the door to my hotel room, I set my bags on the couch and fell on my bed. I stared at the ceiling in despair and panic, I don’t belong here, I’m not like everyone else were the thoughts repeating themselves in my head. Feeling tears starting to pool in my eyes, I got up and looked around. Okay, so the view wasn’t spectacular, it showed the side road workers drove on to get to the back, but I had a room to myself, which meant I had the bathroom to myself. I stood trying to convince myself that I would be fine, everyone goes through this but after hearing laughter in the hall I felt alone again, completely different than everyone else here. I did eventually call my mom, I thought talking to her would calm me down and it did, but I think she may have be the worried one after we hung up.
I got a wake up call at 3:55 in the morning and I was not a happy camper. I had about four hours of sleep, finally drifting off when the patterns on the ceiling began to swirl. Bags in hand, and hoping I didn’t forget anything, I got on a shuttle bus that took about seventy of us to the second largest military building in the country. From the moment I stepped foot through the door was when everything was a blur. Feeling lost and helpless I waited through line after line, waiting to see one doctor or another, to listen to them “hmmm” and “ah!” about something they found interesting in my health. The lack of sleep was wearing me down and being told to wait twenty minutes for someone to call my name, keep me in the office for ten minutes then send me back out to wait once more was definitely not helping.
The worst part about having to sit and wait and wait some more was looking around at the people who were also sitting and waiting. Everyone else was at ease, like they belonged. Seeing everyone smile and joke with each other, I realized I didn’t really know anyone here, I wasn’t close to anyone. Being only seventeen, the youngest as far as I knew, somehow I felt like I was making a mistake. I know it sounds weird, but I just didn’t feel like I was supposed to be there. I felt embarrassed for being so young, with everyone looking at me with an emotion, with a shock I didn’t recognize when they learned my age, I just felt like maybe it really was a mistake.
The last part of the doctoring I had to go through was the Duck Walk. It’s not the medical term for the whole test but it’s how everyone knew what you were talking about. In order to successfully complete this test, one had to strip down into nothing but undergarments and perform a series of exercises in front of two doctors to make sure the bone structure of our bodies was functioning correctly. I had to do this side by side with thirteen other girls. All of them older than me, of course, and one especially. She was almost forty years old and she looked just about as uncomfortable as I did; she was shy and didn’t say anything, just stood there waiting to get the torture over with. I looked around and saw the other girls talking about their cute undergarments or commenting on each other’s appearances and I stood there trying to not be caught under their critic eyes. I looked back at the older woman and smiled at her, I didn’t say anything, I only smiled and the look of relief on her face made me smile more. I couldn’t believe it, here I was trying to fit in and belong somewhere and that’s all it took.
After the embarrassing Duck Walk fiasco, my spirits were slightly heightened by the older woman. I sat with more confidence, suddenly excited to get this all over with. And finally, things seemed to be speeding up. There were shorter lines, less people. The tests were easier and soon they had me running back and forth across the building getting one formed signed after the next. I was sent to the same office six consecutive times, each paper that could have been signed all at once and could have saved time. I still felt awkward sitting with people I didn’t know, and I still felt out of place, but it was getting easier. Finally I was sent to the last office; one with desks, something I recognized and felt comfortable with, something I saw every day for the last four years. That was when my heart starting beating faster, my nervousness kicked in to high gear and I couldn’t sit still. My breathing started coming faster and I felt like I wanted to get sick, but the entire time I was excited and happy. This wasn’t a mistake.
The final step to the longest day of my life was so close I could touch it. I stood with five others, backs straight, gazes forward. Sergeant Tony stood in front of us, mimicking our positions, but with a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. As he began talking, I felt goose bumps race up my arms, I couldn’t help but smile. For the first time in my life I felt pride in what I was doing, pride in making one of the hardest decisions of my life. Suddenly, he called us to attention and ordered our right hands to be raised. The entire time nothing could be heard in the room except for our echoes. With each line we repeated after him, I felt myself swell with happiness and pride. I felt tears in my eyes, not sure if it was from the lack of sleep or because I finally did something I could be proud of. Then the final line “So help me God!” and then silence.
I woke up as the truck bumped up into the driveway. I yawned and stretched and got out from the car, nearly collapsing from my tired legs. I grabbed my bags and went straight up stairs, I was so tired I could hear my bed calling my name. I kicked off my shoes, pulled my hair out from it’s place in a ponytail and collapsed in my bed. I wanted to start crying, I was home, finally home. Finally I saw things I recognized, I could touch the things I knew, hear the familiar sounds I grew up with. I took a deep breath and smiled, what a long long day. I laid, thinking about what I just went through. Suddenly, sitting up, I went to the mirror. No, I didn’t look any different, but I felt different. The entire day I tried so hard to feel like everyone else, to fit in somewhere and now I didn’t have to worry about it. I now had something in common with hundreds of thousands of people. Smiling in the mirror, I saw the next United States Sailor smiling right back at me.