August 9^th, 2009

Today was a long day. It felt as if it would never end. After another 8 hours of rehearsal, we finally got back to our rooms at about 10:30, which is earlier than usual. We decided we would pick up our room a little and finish unpacking. I was on the phone with a friend, and all of a sudden I hear, “Oh my God, oh my God, OH MY GOD!” I had no idea what my roommate was talking about. I thought maybe she forgot something because she ran out the door.

Later, I found out from North Carolina that Kelly ran out the door crying. When she was trying to put the iron away it fell down on her cheekbone. When she was a young child, she had felt the same pain but on the opposite side of her face and it turned out that it was fractured. She was immediately taken to the ER for x-rays. I was in shock when North Carolina told me this. It is unbelievable that I had no idea! I did not hear the iron. Luckily, it wasn’t hot! She got back at about midnight with no major injuries, just a red cheek that would be bruised by the next day. I apologized for not realizing what had happened and promised I would keep an eye on her the rest of our stay and iron her clothes for her. She immediately called her parents to explain to them what had happened and that everything was okay. As I say before, we all had calling cards. To call out of the hotel, you have to press 9 first and then the 1-800 number on the card. Well, it is very easy to accidently press 9-1-1. Taylor Fitch, Miss America’s Outstanding Teen 2009, had done it the year before as well, but Kelly had not realized that she had called 9-1-1. So about 20 minutes after she had returned to our room, we get a knock at our door. Kelly was still on the phone so I answered it and was greeted by the hotel manager, police, fire department, and ambulance. Kelly explained to them what had happened and the hotel manager even said that it happens all the time. We did not get into trouble. They just had to search our room to make sure everything was okay. And that is the end to a very eventful evening.

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I was only in contact with five people while in Florida. I only have the numbers of five people written down. We could not use cell phones and all had phone cards. These people were the most important to me. I loved sharing my days’ adventures with them every night and almost went through 200 minutes of talking time the whole ten days. That makes it sound like all I did was talk! This is not the case though. These people included Diane, my director, my parents, and two of my closest friends, Jake and Nicole. If I were feeling homesick, Jake would always comfort me. If I missed my house, bed, friends, or just being at home, it always felt like any one of them could brighten up my night. I appreciate all of you answering my phone calls at midnight or later because that was the only time we were given to have down time. Thank you!