Austin Recap and Personal Reflections

Greetings. First off, I must give credit where credit is due: to God. He answered a number of prayers for me on Monday's trip to Austin, not the least of which was energy to go throughout the day, having no worries about what I was going through, safe airport travels, and probably the big ones, a good interview and presentations. Now that a couple of days have passed, I can truly look back and appreciate how some things fell into place. Such as, getting my return boarding pass when I checked in at Love Field in Dallas Monday morning.

I initially wondered why they were giving me both passes, going and the return, but I accepted. As it turned out, I had a 2 hour interview. In order to get the presentations, or mock training sessions, in, I had to cancel my shuttle return trip back to the airport from Criss Cole (the rehab center). I did the presentations, and did very well if I can say so myself. Anyway, I had mentioned to the interviewer that I could take a cab back to the airport, but he ended up offering to drive me back, which I gratefully accepted. As it happened, even though I started to worry about the timing, I got through security and to my gate with literally 1 or 2 minutes to spare before they called for the pre-board people. In other words, just in the nick of time. So, getting that return boarding pass Monday morning ended up working to my advantage, since I likely wouldn't have had enough time to get it and do the usual airport stuff since I was running late coming back.

I've really only interviewed for jobs relating to blindness or people with disabilities, such as this job at a rehab center, or a job with Bender Consulting Services, that I wrote about a few days ago, who place disabled people with corporations. So, I haven't yet had to interview in the "mainstream." I have had quite a few phone interviews and a couple of them in person. I say all this to say that I hit a point sometime during Monday's interview where I was enjoying it. Really. There were times that it turned into more of a discussion about philosophy or techniques, than an interview. I had to remind myself that I was interviewing to work there. Anyway, during the entire 2 hour period, my mind was clear (which was something else I had prayed about), and I was able to give clear and concise, or detailed where necessary, answers to all of the questions. There was only one question that I didn't know the answer to, but I said as much and the interviewer rephrased it, which made the question more clear to me.

In closing, I want to point out something that a friend brought to my attention yesterday. He said that he was proud of me, and that I should be proud of myself, for traveling all the way to and from Austin, to an interview, arranging transportation for myself, all on my own and with little help from anyone. Upon reflection and being a couple of days removed, I can appreciate this and feel proud about it. At the time I might not have recognized the significance of this because, its what I had learned how to do. I remember being on the shuttle that took me to the Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center, and talking with another passenger who was marvalling at my ability to travel alone. I told him that basically, it might be scary the first time or two, but then you learn how to do it and are able to go through with it. Between asking directions, possibly getting help from a skycap or other airport person, and using a little common sense, I have been able to travel alone for quite some time now, probably around 10 years or so, perhaps more.

As I say, being two days removed from the trip, I can appreciate this independent travel more, and am grateful for those that have helped teach me the ways of independence, whether they be caseworkers from a state agency, blind role models that I might know locally, or other plain old blind people that I might come across in daily conversation or at a well grounded rehabilitation center. So, to all of those, especially those people at the Colorado Center for the Blind and other NFB related training centers, I say thanks. Thanks for giving me the confidence to travel to and from a city for a job interview, which I stand a pretty good chance of getting.