The Nighttime Whatifs

Whatif

by Shel Silverstein

Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow talle?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

I do love this poem and smiled when I reread it for the first time in years, but it's 3 am.

These Nighttime [and daytime] Whatifs have got to end--

Completion

After a grueling 2.5 hour written examine which included:

13 2-5 sentence short answer (about anything from colonial America to Reconstruction in 1877)

1 8-10 paragraph essay (topic: did the north win the civil war or did the south lose, defend your answer)

1 10-12 paragraph essay (topic: History is often written from the winners prospective, write about specific historical events from 18th & 19th century taking the prospective of African American slaves or Native Americans)

I AM FINISHED!

SIDE NOTE: my professor didn't even give us a review.. directly quoted conversation

Student: Do we get a review for the final?

Richards: No.. you just need to know everything.. [seeing the panicked looks on all our faces]..Ya'll (she's a "southern bell" aka not scared to speak her mind) need to learn how to separate the wheat from the chaff. It's part of the college experience" AKA sift through your 15 pages of notes and figure out what we think she thinks is important info... SHEEZ!

Needless to say I might have carpal tunnell, but the good news is I LIVED! I honestly... wait.. I was about to say that I honestly don't know how I survived this semester but I know EXACTLY how I survived: practically ZERO social life, library after work from 8-midnight multiple times a week, sneaking Pepsi into the library to keep me awake, getting 6 hours of sleep a night, never working out and studying between clients at the bank. That is how I made it-- well actually I dunno if I made it because grades aren't posted and they could be rough, but I'm being optimistic :)

BYU is hands down the hardest thing I've ever done (intellectually that is). Everyone there is just so frickin smart! oh man well that's my story! Now I can focus on getting Christmas presents and catching up on my sleep.

Loves!