Before I start this story, I’d just like to say thank you so much to my mother and father for supporting me through all of this. I’d also like to thank my wonderful pastors, who coached and traveled with me on my journey. And of course, thanks to all of my friends at New Life Church. I couldn’t have done any of this without you!
It was three in the afternoon and I had just eaten lunch with my mother. We sat and talked about how much fun my graduation party was, then started discussing my future at USF. She sincerely told me how proud and excited she was to see me off to college. I, although very thankful for all she had done for me, was still uncertain of my decision to attend classes in the fall. But I kept quiet of that, and after saying thank you to her for the toasted tuna sandwich, I trotted down the stairs to visit my new favorite possession. My computer.
It was a beautiful gadget that my father had given me as a graduation present. I was exploring all of the neat tricks it had up its sleeve, and all the while I was thinking of how much I didn’t want to use it for school. Instead of checking my email for more tuition information, I decided to procrastinate, and check out some Youtube videos. For about a half an hour I watched past performances of my favorite artists when I happened to come across Carrie Underwood.She was singing, “Alone,” by Heart, and I was impressed. Her small town personality gave off a sense of insecurity, and yet her voice gave off a sense of confidence.
Suddenly curious, I opened the American Idol website to check out when auditions were for the next season. To my surprise they were holding auditions in less than a month. Now, more curious than ever, I looked at all the cities they were auditioning in. It just so happened that they were holding auditions in Dallas, TX, where my sister lives. The excitement was building inside of me, and I knew instantly what I wanted to audition. Little did I know that this audition would not only change my life, but myself, and my future as well.
