Is is true?

The moment that 7 years of my life had been in preparation for (yes, that includes finishing thoughts in prepositional phrases) was supposed to arrive today. The results from my board exam was to be released at some point today. But just in case they finished ahead of time, seeing as it was a computerized multiple choice test with a minimum passing score, I checked multiple times a day every business day since I last took the exam on Monday, July 2nd. And that moment arrived unexpectedly last night when I checked for the last time at 9:58pm as Master Chef was announcing who they were going to send home. I had to fill out a "status of my request" form, complete with social security number, birthday, mother's maiden name, my name, and my social security number again for good measure. Earlier during the day, I nervously clicked the "process now" button, in fear that my status would actually be stated. This time I didn't expect to see anything, so I just clicked the button.

I was utterly shocked to see that the order of the tests had changed (meaning that some new information had been added) and that the next to the description of "Physical Therapist" was the current status of "score received from Prometric - Passed."

My first thought seemed like an internal scream of OH MY GOD!!!! I then promptly stood up (mind you, I didn't tell Sean that I was checking; I didn't think there would be any news), yelled "I passed!!!" and gave him a jump hug as he stood up. My crazy antics prompted Coco to start barking, but I stayed in my monkey hug position crying tears of joy and shock and surprise. I had reasoned with Sean earlier that I should pass because I had a lot of people praying for me and I honestly believe that all the credit goes to God. I then had Sean read the status check and I checked it several times to be sure that I was reading correctly. My next action was to post on facebook so that my classmates would know the test status was up. Fortunately it's been all good news so far.

I called my parents and didn't know if my crying would cause them concern when I told them. They figured if I was calling at that point, it would be good news and I was able to confirm their expectations. We then took Coco on a walk at 10pm. I was too excited and in shock to go to sleep. Seven years of college had come down to one exam and I had passed it - what?! When we took our review course back in February, the reviewer had said that this moment is like a top ten moment in life. I definitely agree. This by far has been the most surprising. Getting engaged and married and being a Christian are definitely top moments, but as moments in my life, they weren't surprising. Sure, I didn't know that night that Sean was going to propose, but by our continued dating it meant that we both considered each other marriage material (and I was secretly anticipating it the whole night while trying to enjoy a wonderful date if it was just a date and not a plan to propose). And marriage while wonderful isn't quite a surprise after you have been proposed to (goodness, let's just end every sentence with a preposition). Salvation is something I'm never going to understand fully, but the gift is too wonderful to reject. But passing the NPTE was definitely surprising.

Truthfully I'm still in shock. I keep wanting to check and confirm. It seems like a wonderful dream. Today I read a book - a non-academic fiction book without a single reference to PT or spinal tracts or muscle actions. And I'm thinking a bubble bath might be in order in my newly cleaned tub since yesterday I did a lot of cleaning to distract myself from the fact that my scores would be coming out soon. It is a totally wonderful feeling to know and to be able to relax, but it's also strange.

For now, I'm off to enjoy another book and to wait for Sean to come home. We're going out to dinner to celebrate with a Park Ave restaurant (and hopefully some walking around afterwards).

Adios,
Courtney , PT, DPT