Folks, when I sat down to start blogging my story I would have never imagined that it would take me this long to tell the story, nor that I would add so many details. Apparently, I’ve missed going into storytelling mode on my blog and decided to make up for it by writing a whole book for y’all. 😉

The week and a half between when I had my job interview and when I officially found out that I was part of SET was one of the longest short periods of my life. I tried not to think about it and just go about daily living and I did pretty well until the date arrived when they said I’d probably hear back from them. Then it seemed like I couldn’t think about anything besides the job.

Literally, every time I saw Mr. Assistant Director on the day when they said I might have an answer I got sick to my stomach. He was really busy that day and I kept over-thinking things and wondering if he was actually in a hurry every time I saw him, or if he was just avoiding me because he had to break it to me later that I hadn’t made the team.

At one point in time, I was back in the offices to talk to my manager about a scheduling conflict and Mr. Director and I passed each other. Mr. Director asked if I was looking for him, and I told him no, but then just literally stood there – mouth and eyes wide open, hoping he would say something. He looked at me a little bit perplexed, then went past me. I knew he had a lot on his mind and realized he probably hadn’t remembered that I was supposed to get an answer that day, so after I was done talking to my manager, I decided that if I got another opportunity I’d go to Mr. Director and outright ask him if he had any news.

As I was leaving the office area (which is really big and has a lot of hallways) I saw Mr. Director down the main hallway, talking to someone. I thought it would look awkward to just stand there waiting to talk to him, so I actually turned around and went back down the hall I had just come from, so I could wait for a moment then walk past the hallway he was in again, to make it seem like a chance meeting. (I know, I know. That’s a little extreme, but folks, at this point I was freaking out.)

When I casually came down the hall again, Mr. Director was walking up the other hallway alone, so I headed his way. He greeted me and asked if I needed something and I very eloquently (insert sarcastic roll of eyes here) eeked out something about him having told me to check back after a week and it had been a week and so I wondered if he had an update for me? He told me he’d find me later to talk. I told him where I was working for the day then hurried back to my station to freak out.

After overthinking his response for an hour or so I told myself to chill. I mean, surely he wouldn’t tell me in public if I hadn’t gotten the job, right?

When I finally saw him walking toward me, I smiled and tried not to feel too intimidated.  The funny thing was that until I went to apply to be on SET I had never once been intimated by Mr. Director and instead had joked with him and often thought about how he was incredibly approachable. Mr. Director basically told me that they needed something approved by HR before they could officially let me know if I was on SET or not, and HR was gone for the weekend so I’d just have to be patient.

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry if I haven’t been patient…” was my outward response, but inside I was like “I am being so patient” because I felt like a lifetime had passed. After that Mr. Bookstore Manager and I were talking and I told him how they’d told me to check back after a week and that I’d done that, and I hoped I had done the right thing and not been impatient. He assured me that I’d done fine and that I was doing a good job with not being pushy but letting them know I really was interested in the position.

Then Sunday rolled around and I somehow found out very unofficially that I was going to get the job.

Cue the excitement. But, it wasn’t official, and so I couldn’t really say anything to anyone or act like I knew. That made the next few days go by at a much better pace, plus helped me sleep better at night. Now I just needed to wait for Mr. Director and Mr. Assistant Director to tell me officially so I could share the news with the world.

On Wednesday I was once again in the offices to talk to my manager and Mr. Director was actually talking to my manager, too. When I walked into their office, he asked me if I was looking for him, and I said that I was actually looking for my manager. He’s like “Well then if you don’t need me I guess I’ll just stand here being ignored.” I laughed said, “Well, I mean I wasn’t looking for you, but since I’m here, do you have anything you want to tell me?” He told me to finish my business with my manager, so I did, but as we were working out the schedule Mr. Director and Mrs. Manager started joking with each other and me about if Homer (my stuffed animal that I wear everywhere at work because we sell them in the bookstore) would be allowed to be worn by a SET member? I launched into my great arguments about how me wearing the cute little stuffed animal is a great advertisement and how many of them I’ve sold because people like Homer, etc… By that time I was getting pretty excited because I was pretty sure I was about to officially hear I’d gotten the job.

Sure enough, after a couple minutes of joking, I asked Mr. Director if he had anything he wanted to tell me, and he motioned me into his office. We walked in, sat down, and he asked me if I was still interested in being a SET member. I replied with an enthusiastic affirmative, and he’s like “Well then, the job is yours.” I thanked him and we stood back up, walked back into the main office where the joking commenced once more as they found red shirts for me to try on.

And that, my friends, is how I joined SET.

I was going home/on vacation for about twelve days at the end of that week, so I finished my week in the bookstore, went home, and then came back at the end of the month and started my first official day as a SET member on my birthday. It was a glorious birthday gift and a day that was utterly fantastic.

Since then I’ve discovered that Mr. Director really isn’t intimidating after all, and that instead, he’s tons of fun, while also a really good leader. I work directly under Mr. Director and Mr. Assitant Director and have been enjoying life on SET far more than I thought possible.

I had told myself that the learning curve would be hard and that I didn’t even have to enjoy the job until I’d had it for at least a month. And while it’s true that the learning curve was exhausting and sometimes overwhelming, it’s also been exceedingly rewarding and enjoyable. I literally didn’t know that I could look forward to work so much every day.

Each night when I go to bed, it’s with a countdown in my mind as to how many hours I have until I get to go back to work. I’m so incredibly thankful for my job, for the people I get to work with, and for the way God led me to not only the Creation Museum but also SET.

Thanks for joining me on this loooonnnnnngggggg journey, folks! If you’re interested in seeing what a normal day looks like as a SET member, let me know and I’ll do a post about that. 😉 Have a fantastically blessed Novemer day, friends!