“I got your pictures on my phone”, is all I heard as we walked toward the side entrance heading out for lunch. “The pictures from yesterday”, he said. “Oh yes, of course”, I mumbled with a blank look on my face as we stood by the door. “Well, I can send them to you if you’d like he replied”.
I somehow managed to get my eyes off the ugly floor and give my email address to him. I watched him type it in his handheld and my eyes quickly filled with tears just ready to pour, but I held back and put a big smile on my face. I just couldn’t believe on the saddest day of my life, when I tried to hide my face from everyone someone actually noticed it. “I'll have these out to you in no time”, he said, as he rushed through the doorway and said goodbye.
Friday July 10th was my father’s birthday; he would have turned 60 years old. I really did not want to go to work that day and the only reason I did was because I had previously signed up to have breakfast with Governor Corzine at work. The original date was scheduled a week before but the Governor had to cancel due to a business matter. I woke up early in the morning that day with misty eyes. I put on my business suit and drove to work. The only thing I was looking forward to was meeting the Governor, and a chance to ask him a question I had sitting on the back of my head for some time. I told my classmates on the previous night that I’ll be meeting the Governor. They all seemed psyched for me and gave me a few ideas and possible questions I might want to consider asking him. At about 8:30 AM the Governor walked in the room with his men. He said hi to everyone and asked how everyone was doing. He looked pretty happy to be there. I started to feel a little bit better about myself. This was a big deal for me, I felt like I was meeting the mayor of NY. As the governor spoke he was throwing funny jokes all over the place. I wanted to laugh but just couldn’t.
The Governor spoke about the different issues New Jersey is facing. One issue in particular that everyone was patiently waiting to hear was the economy. It was no surprise when he said we were in a recession, the economy was pretty bad and difficult to manage during these times. He briefly spoke about his accomplishments and plans to give our economy a push. One thing he made very clear was that there are no plans to do any cuts to education. He mentioned New Jersey has one of the best educational systems and we ought to be very proud of that. In fact he is looking into expanding our schools and investing in any improvements needed to make our schools even better.
After the Governor finished speaking he asked if anyone had any questions. I raised my hand and spoke my question. All eyes in the room were on me, I felt this great power and importance. I was worried that the question did not come out right or that I screwed up somewhere and or maybe no one heard me. But I did it. I asked the Governor the question about furloughs and everyone in the room heard it. I wanted to know how furloughs will help the economy in the long term not the short term. I was so impressed with the Governors answer, he said that the people will not get paid for a few weeks but they will still keep their jobs and benefits while out. It is better than letting them go and forcing them to be without benefits and possibly losing their homes. “Having said that” the Governor replied, “If we can save some money in the short term it will help everyone in the long term”. This law only applies to companies that have less or little growth due to the unstable economy. After the Governor finished answering all the questions everyone had, we all walked over to shake his hand and thank him for visiting us.
I found strength stay in line and wait a little longer to take pictures with him. Our turn was up. There was a gentleman standing there with a big smile on his face who offered to take the pictures. I handed my camera to him, he tried to take a picture but the batteries died. We all stood still for few seconds as another colleague took a few pictures of me with the Governor and my friends. It felt better knowing when the day is over at least I will have a picture with the Governor and a great answer that I can take back to school and share with my awesome Professor and classmates.
But the day had more plans for me than I expected; Not only did I meet the Governor of New Jersey and asked him a question in a room full of people, that left me feeling so powerful and important. It brought a new friend in my life, someone very special that I have so much in common with. For that I am very grateful and truly believe there are angles that comfort and guide us when we are feeling sad and down. They bring the best out of us. The nice gentleman is that special person who took pictures from his phone and emailed them to me immediately just like he promised. We became friends since then and we are so happy to be part of each other’s lives.
I somehow managed to get my eyes off the ugly floor and give my email address to him. I watched him type it in his handheld and my eyes quickly filled with tears just ready to pour, but I held back and put a big smile on my face. I just couldn’t believe on the saddest day of my life, when I tried to hide my face from everyone someone actually noticed it. “I'll have these out to you in no time”, he said, as he rushed through the doorway and said goodbye.
Friday July 10th was my father’s birthday; he would have turned 60 years old. I really did not want to go to work that day and the only reason I did was because I had previously signed up to have breakfast with Governor Corzine at work. The original date was scheduled a week before but the Governor had to cancel due to a business matter. I woke up early in the morning that day with misty eyes. I put on my business suit and drove to work. The only thing I was looking forward to was meeting the Governor, and a chance to ask him a question I had sitting on the back of my head for some time. I told my classmates on the previous night that I’ll be meeting the Governor. They all seemed psyched for me and gave me a few ideas and possible questions I might want to consider asking him. At about 8:30 AM the Governor walked in the room with his men. He said hi to everyone and asked how everyone was doing. He looked pretty happy to be there. I started to feel a little bit better about myself. This was a big deal for me, I felt like I was meeting the mayor of NY. As the governor spoke he was throwing funny jokes all over the place. I wanted to laugh but just couldn’t.
The Governor spoke about the different issues New Jersey is facing. One issue in particular that everyone was patiently waiting to hear was the economy. It was no surprise when he said we were in a recession, the economy was pretty bad and difficult to manage during these times. He briefly spoke about his accomplishments and plans to give our economy a push. One thing he made very clear was that there are no plans to do any cuts to education. He mentioned New Jersey has one of the best educational systems and we ought to be very proud of that. In fact he is looking into expanding our schools and investing in any improvements needed to make our schools even better.
After the Governor finished speaking he asked if anyone had any questions. I raised my hand and spoke my question. All eyes in the room were on me, I felt this great power and importance. I was worried that the question did not come out right or that I screwed up somewhere and or maybe no one heard me. But I did it. I asked the Governor the question about furloughs and everyone in the room heard it. I wanted to know how furloughs will help the economy in the long term not the short term. I was so impressed with the Governors answer, he said that the people will not get paid for a few weeks but they will still keep their jobs and benefits while out. It is better than letting them go and forcing them to be without benefits and possibly losing their homes. “Having said that” the Governor replied, “If we can save some money in the short term it will help everyone in the long term”. This law only applies to companies that have less or little growth due to the unstable economy. After the Governor finished answering all the questions everyone had, we all walked over to shake his hand and thank him for visiting us.
I found strength stay in line and wait a little longer to take pictures with him. Our turn was up. There was a gentleman standing there with a big smile on his face who offered to take the pictures. I handed my camera to him, he tried to take a picture but the batteries died. We all stood still for few seconds as another colleague took a few pictures of me with the Governor and my friends. It felt better knowing when the day is over at least I will have a picture with the Governor and a great answer that I can take back to school and share with my awesome Professor and classmates.
But the day had more plans for me than I expected; Not only did I meet the Governor of New Jersey and asked him a question in a room full of people, that left me feeling so powerful and important. It brought a new friend in my life, someone very special that I have so much in common with. For that I am very grateful and truly believe there are angles that comfort and guide us when we are feeling sad and down. They bring the best out of us. The nice gentleman is that special person who took pictures from his phone and emailed them to me immediately just like he promised. We became friends since then and we are so happy to be part of each other’s lives.
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