When I heard that Santa Clara’s Office of Marketing and Communications had read my last blog, I was excited.  But when they told me that they wanted me to be a student blogger for the Dalai Lama event, I was floored.  Matt Smith, the campus minister who was with me when I heard the news, filmed my reaction as I was told that I was going to get to see the Dalai Lama speak.  Even though a million things were running through my head, I was speechless.  I held back tears of happiness as they told me that not only was I going to get to see the Dalai Lama speak, but I would also be able to write about the event as a student blogger.  It was an emotional moment for me, and I was incredibly thankful for God’s grace.  I had opened up to the world, shared my honest feelings of doubt, anger, and forgiveness in the original blog post, and God answered.  As my mother commented on my Facebook “The Universe had other plans” for me on the day the Dalai Lama tickets were initially released.

When I heard the news, I was also reminded of one of my mentors, Dolores LaGuardia, a professor at Santa Clara who always emphasized the power of words.  One of the greatest lessons she repeated over and over was that good writing can accomplish anything, and that trusting my own skills as a writer and putting myself out there will lead to opportunities I could have never imagined.  Even though Dolores passed away this past summer, I felt her presence along with God’s grace when I found out I was going to see the Dalai Lama speak.  Even today, I am still reeling from excitement, and I pray that I can open myself up to God’s presence when I am listening to the wise words from the Dalai Lama next week.