WORTHINGTON — I had a pretty great week last week, not to brag or anything. Well, OK. I’m going to brag a little bit, on behalf of The Globe team, which took home a whopping 24 awards from this year’s Minnesota Newspaper Association convention. Included in those awards was the Dave Pyle New Journalist Award, which I was a first-place recipient of, and am incredibly honored by.
I received congratulations from a great number of people at the convention, which I was lucky enough to attend. It was an absolute blast, and I had wonderful conversations with people who were more than willing to talk with me and give advice about working in the news industry. I was also just really touched by the number of people who went out of their way to let me know they were happy for me, or had read my work and wanted to let me know they thought I’d done a good job.
I don’t think anyone gets into journalism because they’re hoping for an abundance of accolades, but still, it’s a nice thing to hear. It’s something to keep in mind on the days when I sometimes feel like I’m in over my head — which happens more often than I like to admit.
Following the convention, my parents drove into the Twin Cities and we caught dinner with some friends. Again, I had a great time catching up, celebrating and eating a truly sickening amount of chicken wings from one of my favorite restaurants. We all stayed up too late arguing about the rules for dominos and reminiscing — late enough that I was still exhausted the next morning when I got up. That is, until I checked my email and saw a letter from the admissions office of one of the graduate schools I had applied to, letting me know I had been accepted.
I did the natural thing, which was to burst into the next room where my mom was drying her hair, scaring the life out of her, and thrust my phone in her general direction. A lot of hugging, racing upstairs, congratulations, and more hugging followed. I shot off texts to a few of my closest friends, letting them know, and by the end of the day, most of the big, important people in my life had heard the news. There were a few messages so heartfelt they made me tear up, and a lot of people saying they’d never had any doubts.
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It never escapes me that I’m lucky to have had so many people in my life who love me and want to see me happy and successful, but it always takes me off guard to be met with evidence of that love. A lot of these people have sat with me through my low points. They have held my hand, driven me back from college, and sat on the phone with me late into the evening and sometimes into the morning.
I love being able to share my bests with these same people and to cheer on their victories as well. As excited as I am for what is ahead of me, the thing I most want to remember about this weekend is that there are all these people wishing me well, and it feels just as good — if not better — than any award.
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