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Have you ever dreaded walking to the mailbox to see a jury summons with different family members names on them, and wonder if one of them was for you? Ever since I have been of age to serve, that has been my fear. Up until recently, I have been off the hook. About a month ago, my first summons came in the mail for March 10th - 14th along with one for dad. My world came closing in pretty quickly stressing about what it would be like (seeing I had never stepped foot in a court room before), praying I didn't get picked, etc. Family tried very hard to relieve me of worrying, saying... there's so many poeple that show up, that it's very unlikely you'd get picked anyways. Then your duty would be done for 5 years! I finally gave in and took faith in some of their talk, trying to stay strong and get it over with.
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Monday the 10th came. I made my way to the court room, waiting for a period of time before they could even start picking numbers for potential jurors. I sat in the back waiting. After every number called, I took a deep breath. All 8 jurors had finally been called up for their questioning. I felt like.. wow.. I made it through! After much time, the judge, attorneys, etc. went out of session to determine who they wanted to stay on for this trial. 7 out of 8 poeple were chosen, so they had to go through this process all over again to pick 1 MORE. This one was for an alternate! My number happened to be the 3rd one called out of 8, and my heart sank! I kept telling myself, Im 1 out of 8. I still have a good chance to get out of this. After another session of questioning, they went out to decide. "Miss Myers, you will be our final pick for the day." I was sick. What did they see in me? Others called up, had experience. Surely someone else could have been more equipt to fill this last spot. So, I watched everyone else be released for the day, while I stayed. My worst nightmare had come true.....A few brief instructions on what to expect these next several days, an address on where to meet and at what time was given. I wrote this stuff down, not knowing how to get anywhere in downtown schenectady.
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Tuesday, the 11th came. I had been out that morning with my best friend, rushing home in time to get ready for the first day of trial. In my mind, I had a specific place that I just thought I knew was the place I needed to be, estimating my time to get there and all. I thought there was no need to plug this address in to my navigator on my phone and just grabbed the pamphlet they gave as I walked out of the house. Parking is always a nightmare in downtown. I finally found a parking meter, ran across this several lane road to this jail (which I forgot was a jail and thought it was a police station), because I was suppost to be at "Police Court". Out of breath, I ran inside just in time for my 2pm trial to start. I learned very quickly by an officer that this was NOT where I was suppose to be. They pointed down the road to another building. I went running, of course in a skirt and shoes that hardly allowed this. At my next stop, the people had no idea what I as talking about. After a couple more stops at other buildings running down the streets, an officer was soo kind to take me outdoors and point to a FAR off gold dome high up in the sky.. and tell me that was where I was suppose to be. I was sick. At this point, it's well after 2 pm. I had never done this before, and feared they were all waiting on me. I thought about where my car was located and where I was now after running. It was too far away.. so I kept runnning, crossing intersections and down other streets, trying not to get lost. I FINALLY called dad (even though I had wanted to keep him out of this), giving names of streets etc. He made it plain and clear.. I was absolutely no where near where I was suppose to be. He had assumed I really knew where I was going..so he didnt bother to take me on a trip to show me the night before. =) At this point, I decided that I needed to try contacting someone to tell them I'd be late, but who knows how late exactly. Then it finally dawned on my that I had that pamphlet with a contact number on it. Calling.. I was transfered 4 different times, before I had gotten to the one I needed to talk to. Some lady, graciously stayed on the line until I ran all the way back to my car.. and sent me in the direction I needed to be. What an embarrassing moment of my life. I finally got there about 2:30pm as they all were still waiting to go into session. Somehow I concluded that it wasnt because of me though.
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Sparing anymore of the details because there are a LOT, this was quite an experience for me! At least the rest of the week wasn't filled with as much drama. I then knew where I was going and made up for lost time by getting there VERY early. One of the jurors told me later, "I knew something was wrong.... a nurse wouldn't be late. I think she's lost somewhere! " I've concluded that I'm glad Im not the ultimate judge of humanity. People percieve us cetrain ways because of something they hear or see, when it may not be that way at all. God ultimately knows the intent of our hearts, and it shouldnt matter much what others think.
