Above: Mark Gresham and Amanda Pape, May 12, 2006, at her induction into the Beta Phi Mu, the international honor society for library and information sciences, Denton, Texas.
Back in 2006, a lot happened in the almost-four weeks between Easter (April 16) and the event pictured above (May 12). With one minor exception (a quick update on April 27), there are NO e-mail exchanges between me and Mark from March 30 to May 14, 2006. That's partly due to being able to talk to each other by phone for free (this was back in the days when some long-distance calls, even on cell phones, were not free), and also due to spending more time together in person. But it was also due to my being incredibly BUSY.
I did, however, write a little bit about what was going on to some of my friends. On Thursday, April 20, 2006, I told my friend Shannon, "It will be nice to be DONE with the schoolwork in about two weeks and able to concentrate more on the job hunt. It's also nice to have Mark back in my life as he has assured me I don't have to worry about living expenses--if I just move in with him!"
On Friday, April 21, 2006, I drove from Grapevine to Granbury and spent the next four days with Mark before I went to Houston for the Texas Library Association conference (TLA). I told him I had to get a lot of schoolwork and job apps done while there, though! We did find time for some fun.
On Saturday, April 22, 2006, I finished my library school practicum at the Denton Public Library with a half-hour review with my supervisor there, Kathy Strauss. Then Mark and I went on to the Denton home of my adviser, Dr. Sam Hastings, and her annual "Spring Fling" party for library school faculty, staff, alumni, and students. I wrote Dr. Sam later to thank her "so much for making my sweetie feel so welcome at your party on the 22nd. He really had a great time. So did I!"
TLA was April 25-28; I drove down to Houston on Tuesday the 25th as the first event I was attending was that evening. I spent most of Wednesday 26th and Thursday 27th in the job placement center, since I was graduating in less than three weeks. I had five informal interviews, spoke with someone I'd interviewed with at the American Library Association meeting back in January (they'd had construction delays at a new building so had slowed down on hiring new staff for it), and met the head of the search committee for the big interview coming up on May 9 at Texas A&M - Kingsville.
TLA ended on Friday, April 28, 2006, and I drove back to Granbury to spend some more time with Mark, before returning to Grapevine either late on Sunday, April 30, or early on Monday, May 1. The final project in my last class was due at midnight April 30/May 1, and a bad storm had knocked out the internet at Mark's apartment, so we had to go to a local Starbucks for me to finish.
That first week of May, I was still working in my assistantship job in the Government Documents department at the University of North Texas Willis Library, and also preparing for the big interview - while continuing to apply for other jobs, even having a phone interview for another one that week.
By Friday, May 5, all I had left in coursework was one assignment and one test (online on May 10) in one class, so I headed to my parents' home in Fredericksburg. I left Grapevine really early so I could go with my dad to his prostate cancer treatment in San Antonio. He was near the beginning of 28 days of business-day treatment where he made the hour-plus drive in for 25 minutes of radiation, then drove home. By going along with him, I could at least give my mother a break from the trips.
On Saturday, May 6, my parents and I drove to Austin for my nephew's First Communion. The next day, Mark came to Austin and met my parents and brother Mark, and then it was off to Corpus Christi.
We got into CC that evening and stayed with Tom and Susan Utter. Tom worked for the City when Mark and I did - Mark said he was the closest thing he had to a brother. Mark had not told them he was back with me, so that was quite the surprise for them.
They were great hosts with a lovely home, and we ate at some wonderful restaurants, and we also got the grand tour of all the changes in CC. There had been TONS since we lived there 20+ years ago, and a lot even since I last visited in 2000. Mark was last there in 2003 to pull his sailboat, The Wagon, out of the CC Marina and give it to his son Drew.
The big interview at Texas A&M - Kingsville was Tuesday, May 9, 2006, 8am to 5pm. Talk about grueling! I had interviews with various groups and individuals, some more than once, and there was overlap in the groups. Part of the reason was that librarians generally had faculty status at this university. I thought the interviews went pretty well. I felt relaxed and thought I generally gave good answers. Even the presentation I had to make went well, although it was not as polished as I would like.
After a nice celebratory dinner with Tom and Susan in CC that night, the next day, Wednesday, May 10, we made the 9-hour drive back to Granbury and Grapevine via Austin (to pick up my car).
I was back to work at my assistantship on Thursday and Friday, May 11 and 12 - I only had 32 hours to go on my contract at that point. On Friday the director of the library at Kingsville called and offered me the job. As I had some other "irons in the fire," we agreed that I'd give her my decision by Thursday, May 18.
That evening was my induction into the Beta Phi Mu honor society. Mark dressed up so nicely for the occasion! We went out for dinner afterwards with his son Drew, who was then living and teaching in nearby Lewisville.
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