Something I Thought of
“Advising Resource Center, this is Hank, how can I help you.”
“Yes,” she said. I didn’t ask a question, nor did I say her name being that I didn’t have any Martha Stewart insider-information causing me to break my usual pick-up-the-phone mantra just to say her name thus satiating her thriving delusions of grandeur.
“My son,” she continued, “has just been accepted into Grand Valley”
And here it was. The part where every employee at Grand Valley State University’s Adivising Resources and Special Programs Office was always ready for when a proud parent was calling about his or her son’s or daughter’s acceptance into this road-map-to-destiny school. It was the pause. The pause between “Valley” and “well.” The pause that says everything about a parent down to the wiggling of the toes and the radiating smile of pride stretching across said parent’s greedy little face. A pause that expects some sort of cheering; a rip and a roar with “for he’s a jolly good fellow” echoing in the background. The pause is the sensation somebody gets when life always does turn out like the movies. The pause is the feeling that one can actually stop time.
