By: Teal Johannson-Knox

Every week, Emerge Magazine will feature the experiences, stories and lessons learned from our writers as they work to complete their internships at media outlets across Toronto, the GTA and abroad.

The first day of my internship, I was hoping to make a good impression. Despite my nervousness for my first day and unsure of what to expect the least, I could do was to be on time. Fat chance I would make it on time. Bouts of worrying if I’d get up in time or if my three alarms were in working order left me waking up every hour on the hour. “Is it time to get up yet?”

When I did get up, to my horror, I was already going to be late. It was 9:10 a.m. I was supposed to be in the office for 10am and had an hour commute ahead of me. Never mind get ready? Fantastic.

If only I could tell you how mad I was with myself. I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. It was no use asking myself how on earth I was going to get downtown, for that was wasting time. I hopped on the next bus, disheveled, and all. Do I risk taking the subway and run into a delay? Or do I take a taxi and risk being stuck in traffic? This nonsense seemed to mean life and death that morning.

I cabbed it. Never before do I think I’ve scared a taxi driver as much as I did then. Whoever you are, I apologize. I can assure you I am not usually as frantic, loud, or on the verge of having a panic attack. Rest assured I only ended up arriving 10 minutes past the hour. To my dismay, no one said anything. Did they not notice? Did they not care? Did they know, but didn’t want to say anything? What do I say? Sorry I didn’t sleep well because I kept thinking about today and my own worry caught up with me and now I’m late.

Nonetheless, my time at CanadianFamily.ca has shown me a genre that I wasn’t before privy to. I can’t say that I have ever read family or parenting publications prior to my internship. You could even say that I was ignorant because I couldn’t relate. There are days when taking care of myself could be tasking, not to mention what parents do – taking care of their family and home. I’ve been able to contribute to a resource parents look to for tips, healthcare news, and even what to make for supper. It means something to someone and that’s what really matters.

On a final note, I feel it is my duty to forewarn you of something that people don’t tell you when you’re pregnant and I’ve had the joy of learning about. Three words: third-degree tearing.

Also you can never have enough alarms set.