Lost and Found

Although I still managed to have fun this weekend, my Sunday was spent working on a paper due today. I woke up still feeling some of the previous night's fun and hearing a cleaning crew bang into my suite. They began their deep-cleaning task at 10am. After stopping for a bagel and coffee, I was in the library by 10:30am. By 11:30am I was actually working on my paper.
I wrote steadily throughout the day only taking breaks to email. I admit, I did send a lot of emails. But I also got the bulk of my paper written. At 5:30pm my eyes were beginning to blur and my fingers were tired of typing. I decided I need a break and dinner. I had most of my paper finished. I estimated that I would easily be able to finish in the morning, edit, then print. Afterwards I would hit the gym, then go to the grocery store. It was a great plan.
It was a great plan. However, when I got to the library this morning I couldn't retrieve my paper. I had saved it on a disk. Trust me, after a mishap or two in high school, then college, I've learned to religiously save. I tried one computer. The file wouldn't open. I tried another. Still no luck. I tried opening another file. Yes, that one opened. But the file I needed to open, the paper that was due today, it wouldn't open. 6 hours, 7 pages that I couldn't open.
I sent emails to friends forewarning them that I was very stressed by the fact that I could not find my entire Sunday's work. It was an outlet to prevent me from completely losing it in the library. I asked the front desk for help. The tech guy suggested I check out a laptop, then try to retrieve it from the external floppy disk drive. That didn't work. Then he suggested I go to the computer I was working on yesterday to see if I could find the file. After all, maybe I had somehow accidentally saved it elsewhere. So after asking the girl working there if I could check my disk, we began looking. When she realized we would be taking a while, she moved her pile of books taller than me, the stacks of files covering the floor. But she didn't complain. I think she saw me on the edge of a break-down.
Finally the tech guy gave up. There was nothing to be done. I fought back tears, returned the laptop, gathered my stuff and headed to see my last hope. There is a computer doctor at my school. I've taken my own laptop to him. I've seen his work. I know he is good. Granted my computer still has problems, but I blame the computer. The computer doctor wasn't in. I chose the computer terminal closest to his office and waited. Finally at 10:20am he arrived. He walked into his office and closed the door. So I continued to wait patiently. Finally 10 minutes later he came out. I approached him and asked if he might see if he could find and retrieve the file from my disk. He said he was too busy. I did not cry. I told him that I really needed that paper because it was due today and would he be available to help me later. He told me to come back at 12:30. I must have looked very upset because he changed his mind and told me 11:30.
I went back to the computer and continued working on my paper. I had been working on the last part I needed to finish. Then I began rewriting the sections I had already done yesterday. If the paper couldn't be retrieved, I would have a long day of rewriting ahead of me.
He called me into his office at 11:30. He began doing many computery things. Each attempt to open the file seemed to fail. I seemed to be holding my breath. What would I do if he told me there was no hope? If I had to start writing my paper again? He continued to work. He ran scans, moved files, more scans. Then it was time to try again. I watched as he clicked. I watched as Word opened. I nearly cried.
There were the words I had written yesterday. All 7 pages. The computer doctor who had previously been abrupt with me, smiled. He told me it was because I knew he was the only one who would be able to do it. I'm not sure if the recovered paper was due to the computer doctor or the many prayers I was saying or both, but it was lost and now it is found.