Monday, July 14, 2014

Final Deposit Accepted

Within an hour ago, I learned that the final deposit of my dissertation was accepted.

How do I feel?
I feel relieved.  Shortly before learning this, I returned from an out-of-state trip, in which I welcomed my wife and daughter back from their 2-week family visit in Maryland and took them home after a pit stop at my mother's home in Wisconsin.  So I'm also exhausted.  I don't have enough energy to celebrate.  Ask me later how I feel.

Now what?
Well, I don't actually receive my PhD degree until August 9th.  And I can't walk in the commencement until mid-December because there is no summer commencement.  I am planning a party or two for family and friends weeks after the graduation date, so I guess I could plan that.

More seriously, I feel liberated enough to begin one of my projects, which involves joining online communities of my target population of study.  This will not occur on this blog, but on another at http://sojourningelts.wordpress.com/.  I plan to work on this once a week as I have a full-time job at Kirkwood Community College.  This will be kind of a test to see how I can do research while employed as staff at a community college.

To cherish the moment
As I write this, my wife and daughter are recovering from the road trip in the living room.  My cat is resting on my lap.  The weather is beautiful, mostly sunny, with a slightly cool breeze.  The temperature is in the upper 70s F or mid-20s Celsius.  I have a slight headache, probably from dehydration from the road trip and the mild allergies.  Our whole family (except the cat) is covered in mosquito bites from the swarms that surround my mother's home.  This is what it was like when I learned that my final deposit was accepted.

I forgot to mention that today is Monday, a requested vacation day.  I do not have summers off.  I have to go to work tomorrow.  The road to my doctoral degree ends on August 9th, so I plan to blog until that date.