Little Black Book, Big Opportunity

It was the week before final project presentations for the university’s undergraduate Architectural Program. As campus grounds were becoming densely populated with blooming tulips and leaves covering the branches of maple trees were awakening to the warmth and bright light from the sun’s rays, there was a sense of excitement overcoming the nervous, sleep-deprived students, who had been busy tucked away behind the constant glow of their computer screens and unorganized studio desks, hastily working toward the completion of their projects before the imminent deadline.

For Brianna, one of the students attending the School of Architecture, however, the excitement of the warmer weather and anticipation of much-needed rest after the semester’s end had recently been replaced with somber feelings of sadness and mourning. During the last month of the semester, Brianna had lost two of her family members to sudden, unexpected death, one of whom was her grandfather, who Brianna had shared a close bond with since childhood. As Brianna stood at her studio desk gathering the many study models, hand sketches, and printouts of the Computer-Aided Design drawings she had created of her final undergraduate project, tears would suddenly fill her eyes on numerous days when she remembered times spent at relatives’ houses with family, including her grandfather, celebrating their birthdays together, as Brianna and her grandfather’s birthdays fell within the same week.

Ever since she could remember, Brianna’s dream was to become an architect. She loved traveling on the car rides to her grandparents’ house and telling her grandfather descriptive stories of the many houses Brianna noticed along the way, prompting her grandfather to recite imaginative stories of those houses and the people who might reside in them. As she grew older, Brianna’s grandfather would always tell Brianna of how proud she made him and would also remind Brianna to never give up on her dream. Reminiscing of the times they spent together, although more difficult now with her grandfather’s passing and the added stresses of the approaching final presentation and exams, gave Brianna a sense of reassurance that her grandfather would always be there with her in spirit.

Along with the completion of the final presentations, a final objective for undergraduate students attending the School of Architecture is to apply for admission into the university’s Master of Architecture graduate-level program. Brianna was apprehensive about applying, as she felt unsure of the financial aid or loans she would also have to apply for in order to afford the graduate-level opportunity. All of the undergraduate courses Brianna had enrolled in were funded by loans and Brianna was unemployed throughout her years of undergraduate school, as to focus solely on her studies, so Brianna was quite nervous of how this scenario would unfold. When she felt nervous or unsure about something in the past, Brianna would often have a telephone conversation with her grandfather. To Brianna’s surprise, her grandfather’s advice and words of encouragement would always seem to ease Brianna’s mind and fill her with a sense of happiness and hope. Brianna wished nothing more at that moment than to be able to have one more conversation with her grandfather.

As Brianna finished organizing her display of study models and drawings for her final presentation and headed home for the night, feelings of doubt and uncertainty crossed her mind as she started taking mental notes of the speech she would give during her final presentation. While walking toward the bus stop located just outside the campus, Brianna took a brief moment to admire the blooming tulips, which were her grandfather’s favorite flower, filling the narrow brick planters along the landscaped path of the campus ground. Noticing a tulip petal that had fallen onto the sidewalk, Brianna picked it up, thinking of where to pin the brightly-pigmented petal on the poster board she had created, which was filled with photographs and other mementos of her grandfather.

Upon arriving at the bus stop nearest to her parents’ house, Brianna thanked the bus driver, disembarked the bus, and briskly walked the familiar route of two city blocks she had grown accustomed to with the tulip petal clutched firmly in her hand. Noticing her walking pace increasing with each step, Brianna felt growing excitement for the telephone call she would have with her grandmother that evening, during which Brianna hoped she would remember to mention the tulips in bloom on the university campus grounds.

Now home, Brianna raced up the concrete porch steps, flung open the elaborate wood entry door to the house she had grown up in, scurried past her parents, who were quietly sitting at the dining room table, and rushed down the hallway to her bedroom to deposit her floral print purse and bulging backpack, which had grown uncomfortably heavy throughout the semester. After tossing her belongings on the carpeted bedroom floor, Brianna plopped on her bed, letting out a sigh of exhaustion as her body landed on the soft cotton comforter stretched across her full size bed. To Brianna’s surprise, the soft pillow she had used for many years suddenly felt hard and unfamiliar. Brianna carefully reached her hand under the pillow and pulled out a black Moleskine notebook. While she had seen her fellow classmates and college professors using this sophisticated style of notebook in many of the courses and lectures offered at the School of Architecture, a black Moleskine notebook was never a required item for students on the course syllabi, so Brianna never purchased one for educational or personal use. Curiosity growing, Brianna sat up and slowly opened the notebook, which was addressed “To My Dear Granddaughter” in small, cursive writing on the inside cover page. Immediately recognizing the penmanship, Brianna began gently flipping the pages of the black Moleskine notebook, which contained a letter written to Brianna by her grandfather and was dated just a few days before his untimely death. The letter was a reminder of how proud Brianna’s grandfather was of her and included loving memories of the many happy times they spent celebrating together.

As Brianna, now teary-eyed, closed the notebook, she noticed a small, thin piece of paper float down to the floor. Brianna quickly rolled off of the bed, landed on her bedroom floor with a gentle thud, and stretched to reach the fallen paper. She picked it up, turned it over, and let out a shout of astonishment. The small paper was a check made out to Brianna from her grandfather for a total of twenty thousand dollars. Across from her grandfather’s neatly-penned signature was a note which read, “For the continuation of your studies.” Brianna’s parents, having heard the shouts coming from their daughter’s bedroom, quickly walked down the hallway to find Brianna excitedly twirling and dancing around, notebook and check in hand. Brianna’s parents, after briefly joining in their daughter’s celebratory dance, then told Brianna that her grandfather had given them the notebook to surprise Brianna with after the end of her college semester, just in case any unforeseen circumstances arose, from which he would not be able to deliver the notebook to Brianna in person, himself. With a few more celebration dances and a long embrace with her parents, Brianna felt the intensifying exhaustion from a long day sinking in and turned in for the night. She quickly fell into a deep sleep, with all of the previous feelings of nervousness and apprehension regarding her future replaced by compassionate feelings of true love, respect, and admiration for her beloved grandfather.