Blessed insomnia

I was tossing and turning on my air mattress in a downtown Manhattan apartment across from Central Park. It was Tuesday, March 15 and the next day some friends and I would be presenting at a side event for the Commission on the Status of Women. I needed sleep. A week before I had received a mass email from the Ballard Center at BYU mentioning something about an internship with the Self-reliance Services Department at the Church. Something about working in Latin America to implement their newest program by training local Priesthood leadership. I had forwarded it to myself as a reminder to come back to it. I had heard about the program months earlier from a co-worker and I had been looking for a way to get involved ever since. Now, laying on my back and staring at the ceiling of the sister of a friend, I couldn't stop fantasizing about leaving the country for the summer to help people become self-reliant.

Laura and Becca laid on the full-sized air mattress on my right. I heard Becca ask Laura, "You can't sleep either?" I sat up to see Laura perusing on her iPhone. I got up, grabbed my Chromebook from the counter where it was charging, and looked for the email from the week before. The application was due in 30 minutes. Two days later I had plans to spend my summer in Rosario, Argentina.