Passage

I passed!

I distantly remember feeling confident when I walked out of that exam, but the passage of time eroded that warm fuzzy feeling. The final three days before the results were released were hellish: I was irritable, couldn't sleep, and was plagued by dark fantasies of failure. I feared the humiliation, that at work I'd be wearing a scarlet letter.

I left the office early but got stuck in traffic, so I arrived home a few minutes before 6 pm. I headed straight for the liquor cabinet and got myself a drink before getting stationed in front of my laptop. The website counts down as you refresh: Result will be released in 4 minutes. Then the fields pop up, and you enter your numbers, and it says: "The name above appears on the pass list."

I went out that night with my workmates (all of whom passed), and we greeted each other with "Good evening, Counselor!" And predictably woke up with a college-caliber hangover. It was worth it.