Defense

My defense was a success! I have some revisions to do (which is par for the course), but provided I finish that before mid July, I'll be graduating in August. I am glad to have gotten back on track and that I am finishing up. There have been a lot of stops and starts. Some people have asked me if I am relieved to finally be done with school. I feel like I've been done with school for several years now. It's been a long time since I've sat in a classroom. It's just that I've been ABD (all but dissertation) for so long, but I haven't really thought of myself as being in school for two or three years now. Plus, I've worked the entire time I've been in grad school and never really felt like I was "in" school. Grad school was always just this segment of who I was and admittedly it was often very far down the priority list. That attitude isn't always conducive to getting done I know, but on the plus side I will walk out of there in August without owing one cent in student loans (and how many PhDs can say that?). And, on top of that, I have a gorgeous 10 month old too!

She continually surprises me. Today, Tray brought her up to meet me after my defense and she got to meet three of my five committee members. Tray stands her up on the conference table and she puts on her patented Penny smirk and totally works the room. She had everybody oohing and aahing. She is such a ham. I don't know why I think of her as shy. She is kind of reserved for a minute or so, but boy it doesn't take long for her to come around. She kept waving at my major professor, Phil. It was very cute. Some photos after we got home this evening: