I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

11:33 AM JilinTour.Com 0 Comments

HI EVERYONE!!! My first blog post as Miss Delaware 2011 :)  These past couple weeks have been absolutely incredible.  The love and support that I have recieved has been overwhelming in the best way possible!!
  
Let me just start off by talking about the actual day I won!  As most people can tell by my COMPLETE LACK of waterproof mascara, I obviously was not expecting to win.  You prepare so much, but you never expect to ever hear your name called as Miss Delaware, let alone on your first try.  Being in the top 2 with my beautiful roommate and friend for Miss Delaware week, Chelsea Lee Ray, was the most incredible feeling....even though it looked like I was going to faint and never wake up.  Hearing my name called was surreal.  For those who don't understand my completely ridiculous reaction...here we go...
       A year ago, I was a sophomore at Saint Vincent College (let's go Cats Lax!!).  I made some of the best friends who remain that way to this day.  I was so happy where I was and looked forward to a great TV internship for my junior year.  Nearing the end of my year, the bomb was dropped that I was not able to go back.  Needless to say, I was completely devastated.  I put my parents through hell and back because of it.  "Everything happens for a reason," was all my mom would say to me.  Yeah...okay...  Months later, I was contacted about the Miss Rehoboth Beach pageant.  I had Irish Danced for 13 years and competed nationally and internationally so I had my talent portion down.  When it came to platform, I chose the Special Olympics.  I had volunteered with them for over 5 years and felt that it would fit in perfectly.  Honestly, was I entering this pageant just for the experience? Maybe.  However, things became a lot more real the day that I won.  The first phone call I got that night was from my older sister.  She told me that her college roommate had been texting while driving, collided into a truck, and was in a coma.  She died a week later.  Less than a month later, I was at an Irish Dance show.  Durng the intermission, my mom called.  She said my sister was coming home from college for Christmas break and had been in a terrible car accident.  Luckily, because she was wearing a seatbelt, she survived.  These two events in my life completely rocked me and my family.  I knew from that point on that "things happen for a reason."  I was given the incredible gift of being Miss Rehoboth to jumpstart what is now "Project 16-26: Drive Safe, Drive Smart," a program that goes into schools and across the state to speak about the importance of safe driving.  Those events, along with numerous others, led me to standing in the top 2 in the Miss Delaware 2011 pageant with the thought "ALL THINGS HAPPEN FOR A REASON" running through my mind.  Hence the reaction that my friends still make fun of me for....oh well.  
Well, now that I know that my mom was actually speaking the truth, I know that it is God's will that I am where I am.  This year is not only completely dedicated to Him, but to the families that have lost loved ones or have had those closest to them injured because of a car accident.  I can only hope that through my work as Miss Delaware 2011, that lives will be saved because of my story to tell!


Stay chill,
          Maria

ps. ALWAYS wear waterproof mascara...you never know what will happen!

Enjoy some of the pictures from the 70th Anniversary Miss Delaware 2011 pageant :))











"The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him."
Exodus 15:2