A Flag Day Tale

I have read a lot of flag day stories. They are usually ones of joy and excitement or of anger and frustration. This is neither.

When I woke up the day didn't really feel like a big deal. I had slept well the night before and yet I wanted to keep sleeping. But I got up and was kind of excited for the first order of the day, a trip to the CIA building.

The past week had been really intense. Part of that was because the skills we were learning were pretty difficult but I also think it was because they wanted to keep our minds completely occupied. It worked. Friday was like a reward. A trip to the CIA followed by flag day. While the morning was interesting, I was ready to move on and get the to main event.

My family was there which I was really excited about. My parents tried to come to Ohio a couple months ago but it didn't work out so I hadn't seen them in a while. My grandpa and aunt came too which was great.

All week people had been asking each other, "what is your number one choice?" and I had latched on to Mongolia. In all honesty I was really attached to all of my top choices but Mongolia just became an easy go-to answer. I would have been a little sad not to go to all of them which is one reason I was so looking forward to flag day. I was genuinely excited to find out where everyone was going because if I could not be the one to go to each awesome place on our list I wanted to find out who would.

When we got in the room it still didn't feel real. I saw the projection saying, "welcome to flag day" and it still didn't feel real. I chose my seat next to my dearest friends and it still didn't feel real. Then we did the wave as we sat in our seats; well that was just silly. And then they brought the flags in. Ok, this is it.

I am the kind of person who wants to know everyone. I know the first and last name of all 90+ people in my class as well as our coordinators and a few other people who have been involved in our training. I was genuinely thrilled to write down where each person was going so I could be excited for them and keep a list for my own reference. Starting the event off with a bang, one of my best friends was called first. It was exactly the country she wanted to be in and I was so excited for her. As the names and countries of the rest if my classmates were called I kept up with writing each one down. I was hardly registering whether or not I wanted the posts that were being called, I was just keeping track of who was going and where.

And then the Washington, DC flag appeared on the screen and I was already looking at that post on my list for some reason (DC posts were on the second page). As soon as the announcer started reading the job I closed my eyes. It was going to be mine and for some reason I knew it. He called my name and it took me a second to not write my own name down before I got up to collect my flag.

I was overwhelmed and a little in shock. I took my flag and folder in a daze and walked to the back to hug Scott. He was smiling for me and as I glanced down the row at my parents my dad mouthed, "Is this good?" I nodded and kept a smile on my face (at some point I may share the photo my mother took of me at this moment. I look exceedingly ridiculous with my crazy smile). I cried, but went back to my seat to keep writing down where everyone else was going. The tears were not out of sadness or joy but just from the emotion of the event.

This was absolutely not on my radar. But it's going to be great. I am excited about getting to know the city and the people. My biggest concern at the moment is finding a place to live because they are kicking me out of state housing and DC is expensive!

As for the job itself: I am thrilled. It's exactly the bureau I want to be in and it also happens to be the subject I know the most about. I start really soon and although it would maybe have been more exciting to be heading overseas right away I will be bidding next month on my first overseas position!