The End and The Beginning

Yes!!! I am done with my Masters degree! I defended on Monday. Leading up to it I felt really nervous and stressed. I got through the morning with lots of deep breathing and prayer. Of course once I started talking things felt much better, and I feel really good about how the presentation went. I talked for 45 minutes, which is probably the longest I have ever talked in one hour. :) Then I had a closed door session with my three committee members. We talked about a lot of background-type information that was in papers that I read two years ago and couldn't remember the details of. If I hadn't been helping to run/attending workshops and conferences for the past three weeks I probably would have been better prepared so I was a little frustrated but at least I passed!

Last night I celebrated with my friends from the department. It started at the Rustic Oven with several members of my research group including Scott, plus Dave and his wife, Chris, Mark, and Rachel. Scott was very generous and paid for several of us, which I wasn't really expecting but was nice. A little after 8:00 we went to the Rio. I love their margaritas but hardly ever go there because it is expensive. So I was very happy to enjoy one on Rachel :). And Michelle bought me a shot of patron - ikes! It was good though. Several other people met us there and I had a really nice time talking to different people. I feel very blessed by my friendships in my department. I feel like some of them have only really developed in the past year - mostly thanks to softball, suffering through Dave's modeling class, and the coffee club. Also Rachel and I decided we are kindred spirits, and also agreed to hug more often (we agreed on this while we were sober, too). Haha :)

Today I was awake from 5-7 AM. I couldn't sleep, I think maybe the shock of being done was hitting me. Finally I fell back to sleep until 10:00. Nice! I did some laundry, cleaned a little, made scrambled eggs and coffee and watched Family Feud. Seriously, I could get used to this! Around noon I went to the office to do some moving. Erica and I are moving into Nick's office, which has a window so I'm really excited! Also it seems fitting to be moving into a new space as I move into this new phase of my graduate career. I can't believe that Erica and I were in Room 412 for three years!! They flew by!

I ran some errands and at 4:30 I met Kim at the gym and we swam 2100 yds. It was great to swim with her, our pace is very similar, and I got a great workout. Then I went to dinner with Mollie and Beth at Star of India. Oh yes and Kelty came too. She is so cute and I can't believe her first birthday is in just a few weeks! Anyway, dinner was really good and it was so nice to see those two. I have missed hanging out with my friends this summer!!

Now I desperately need to go to sleep! I should probably be really excited about being a Master of Science and having this great degree and being smart, yada yada yada, but what I am most excited about is getting my life back. I am just so ready to go back to Chris and my happy existence. Last night and today were definitely a wonderful start to my renewed freedom and generally happier, less stressful life. :)