COUNTING BLESSINGS AND CURSES

It's not that good things don't happen to me, I realized, as they complimented me and offered me the honor of representing my school. It's just that the blessings always seem confined to the mundane, ordinary aspects of life and never extend to the dynamic realms of the romantic or supernatural.

I have the wrong kind of good fortune.

Earlier today, I was nominated to attend the N.C. Community College Student Leadership Institute this summer in Raleigh. Craven will foot the entire bill, and I will attend a six-day leadership workshop as their sole delegate. It's an academic honor I don't deserve, and I'm grateful and strangely proud.

For all the misfortune that plagues me - being rejected by every crush I've had since sixth grade; most recently, my best friend, with whom I had fallen hopelessly in love - I am blessed sevenfold. I enjoy full reporter status at the local daily newspaper, a job many aspiring scribes would kill for, I have a wonderful immediate and extended family, I rarely have extra, but I am always taken care of financially, I enjoy school, I love work, and the few close friends I have are fiercely loyal.

But none of that matters when your heart is pining for someone you can never have.