The biggest reservation I tend to have with getting an internship in the summers of college is (you guessed it) the whole working for free thing. 

Internships, as we all know, aren't programs students enter if they're looking to make tons of money in a summer job. Being an intern is about being in the workforce. It's the daily grind in an environment similar to where we'll likely spend the rest of our careers, and it often entails doing some dirty work in order to learn the ropes of a certain job. 

I certainly thought I knew what to expect out of the internship I entered into at the beginning of the summer with the North Texas Chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Visions of fax machines, phone calls and e-mails danced in my head as I worried about whether or not this job was going to teach me any skills I would actually need later in my career. After all, I still don't have a clue as to what I'll be doing when I graduate, and I don't necessarily need to know right now (just one of the many perks of being a PR major). There were definitive moments of panic back in May as I agonized over whether I should have tried harder to find another regular old paying job. However, this internship has disproven every doubt I had in the beginning. Despite my misgivings, I can definitely say with confidence that I've learned so much more than just what it takes to send kids to Disney World for free.

As I've already mentioned, before I began my internship, I anticipated the "behind the scenes" work I would have to do in my job with Make-A-Wish. What I didn't see coming was that I would be challenged and stretched beyond my comfort zone by the people I worked with, or that I would actually have the opportunity to help grant wishes. 

One Monday a couple of weeks ago, I got to leave work halfway through the day to deliver a very small puppy to a very sick boy. As I drove the puppy to her new home, she snuggled up in my lap and started whining a little. I worried that the puppy's new family wouldn't have the time or energy to take care of her as they cared for their sick little boy. I hoped the wish hadn't been a huge mistake.

I arrived at the family's home and headed up to the front door, puppy in my arms. I got a little nervous as I waited for someone to come to the door. When I entered the home, I saw a heartbreaking scene for which I wasn't fully prepared. The boy was wheelchair-bound, unable to speak or move much. He was on a feeding tube and his parents had turned the office at the front of their home into a bedroom, decked out with a hospital bed and many blinking machines and monitors. A home healthcare provider was tending to the boy as he watched a show on TV in the darkened living room, the volume turned up to a deafening sound. 

When I walked into the house holding his new puppy, the boy was able to smile. His crooked grin was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The boy's mom gave me a huge hug when I tried to shake her hand as I left. The whole family acted as if I had brought them a check for a million dollars, instead of another mouth to feed. Their son's happiness was worth more to them than anything else, and it was clear they'd do anything to see that crooked little smile. I walked back to my car on cloud nine, certain that Make-A-Wish couldn't have chosen a better family to receive that puppy. 

Through my internship, I've been able to help children with life-threatening medical conditions experience great joy. Going into this summer, I was expecting that. I wasn't expecting to realize what it means to be truly joyful doing your job. And this realization is something I would never trade for any paycheck.