Emma Rose to the Occasion

Tomorrow I graduate.

Tomorrow I graduate from esthetician school.

Tomorrow I say goodbye to 40 hour school weeks with 20 hour work weeks on top of that.

Tomorrow I say goodbye to a cramped, dimly lit corner of a beauty school, crowded with 16 women.

Tomorrow I end a 2 hour commute, everyday.

Tomorrow I will fill up my gas tank at the cheapest gas station in Austin for the last time.

Tomorrow I will probably get new hub caps from my car because they most likely won’t get jacked again.

Tomorrow will be my last day waxing random ladies’ eyebrows.

Tomorrow will be my last day giving facials, massages and popping zits.

Tomorrow will be my last day walking through the maze of cosmetology students doing their hair and make up.

Tomorrow I will clock out of school for the last time.

Tomorrow will be the last day I make a packed lunch.

Tomorrow will be the last day I set my alarm for 7:04 am and get up at 7:25 am.

Tomorrow will be the last day I sit in 5 o’clock traffic.

Tomorrow I will have to say goodbye to some of the most interesting, different, special ladies I have ever met.

I didn’t think leaving esthetics school would be such an emotional thing- well, I’m not really emotional right now, just nostalgic. These have been the toughest six months I’ve had. I took a leap of faith with this whole esthetician thing. I didn’t even fully understand what an esthetician did when I signed up for school- nor was I sure I wanted to be one. But since then, I’ve learned so much. I’ve learned so much more than skin, appearance, hygiene, beauty, and hair removal. And at the risk of sounding sappy, what I’ve learned most about was people and specifically, their need for love and acceptance. It took me sitting in a tiny classroom with 16-18 women at a time, with the exception of a few men, for 800 hours in a six month time frame to realize this. To realize we are all, Christian or not, homosexual or not, overweight or not, attractive or not, driven or not, funny or not, young or not, divorced or not, pot-head or not, privileged or not, depressed or not, are built with a need for love and a need for companionship and acceptance. I don’t know why I never picked this up, why I never fully understood this even though it has been told to me, time and again. But God has a funny way of working through lives and decided beauty school was what I needed to partially understand humanity’s need for Him. I confess I was not the most pliable instrument in God’s hands at times, and in fact I am sorry to say that much of my time spent these past six months was in doubt that my situation could be for some sort of higher purpose. However, God has used these people in my life to show me His heart and I am so grateful. I hope that I was a blessing to them as much as they were to me.