Anyway, being absent for these vitally important assessments certainly will not get you out of them, I learned that the hard way. I walked into school today with the slightest flicker of a hope called "exemption", only to find out that the "testing window" ends in two weeks, and I don't know what I want to do more: lay sick in bed for two more weeks or just take the stupid things. Looks like just taking the stupid things won out, more for the fact that my mom would start to get suspicious after day 10 than actual will. So I finally surrendered today and skipped my first two and a half periods to make up the first half of these dang tests.
Now, since I didn't miss much class time because all of it was sacrificed for the sacred tests, I probably suffered the greatest fallback today while making up the tests, which means I spent 3rd period sitting alone in the hall catching up on reading the Diary of Anne Frank for English. And of course, when I moved onto science the next period, I found that we were burning sulfur as a lab experiment, and for all the non-chemists of the world who don't have any idea of the significance, it stunk. Not just in the way the PSSA's do, but it literally stunk. Like, take the smell of a dozen rotten eggs, multiply it by 10, and you get what my science classroom smelled like today.
The smell was overpowering. One of my classmates joked that he was going to be sick, and of course, returning to school after a two-day, stomach-flu-induced vacation, so was I- literally. I toughed it out for, say, the first half of class and performed the majority of the experiment I missed with my lab partner, Beth, but the smell just became to much for me at some point and I quietly asked my science teacher to be excused and then briskly exited the stinky science room, never realizing how sweet the usually stuffy hallway air could smell. But I still felt sicker than I had in days, and after a drink from the water fountain to try and delay the inevitable, I finally lost the fight with my gag reflex, losing the bread and butter I had for breakfast and the water that never really hit my stomach. So much for making everything up. I got a grand total a period and a half in. So I told my science teacher, who kindly exempted me from the lab (at least I got exempted from something...) and sent me down to the nurse, where, apparently, my stomach still hadn't forgiven me for the sulfur incident. After two instances of blowing chunks, the nurse called my mom to come pick me up. Ten minutes later, I found myself on our family room couch, snuggled in my comforter, watching reruns of Bones for a third time. At some point, I got restless and had to get up and do stuff- let's just say that, for once, I was glad to do my chores. I can actually see the floor in my room, and I count on it staying that way for a whole entire 3 hours. Maybe 4, since I'm going to bed soon.
So no screw-ups at mass or calamities in an alb? I'm sure something along the lines of "what the heck are you talking about here?!" is going through your mind at this point, and I think I'm finally getting to that. There will be times in life where you have to do things you don't want to do. And there probably will not be times when sulfur makes you barf. But luckily for me, I had both, and I'm not being sarcastic. I'm not even being sarcastic when I say I'm not being sarcastic. With PSSA's to make up, stinky sulfur to deal with, and the inability to keep down your bread and butter to wrestle, when the heck did I have time for God? I was too busy fast-forwarding through the recorded Bones episodes on my DVR and fretting about the Pretty Sucky State Appraisals. God? I'm very ashamed to admit that he was one of the last things on my mind in these past three days.
Meanwhile, there's everyone from the little kid, wailing in pain while battling cancer at Children's Hospital to the man that's working his butt off to prove to his boss that he doesn't deserve to get laid off, for the sake of his wife and kids. And you always hear stories about those people- the ones that would give anything for the stomach flu and PSSA's in turn for what they have now- sticking to loving God and trusting that he will bring them through the pain and pressure that they are enduring. Why? Because God is the one that brings you through all of that. Prayer, petition, meditation, trust, and love are the stuff of magic. There are survivors in this world who have stood through harder things unwavering, the ones who have stuck with trusting God to bring them through their suffering. It's hard to endure some things that the world is plagued with, and with that, it's easy to turn your back and blame God for all of it instead of leaning on him. But it's the right thing to do. And in the end, you will emerge stronger, better, and closer with him if you do. So looking back, a little more prayer and a little less complaining and fast-forwarding would have done me good- although I still hate sulfur.
