Milestones

Exactly a week ago Eric gave his oral defense for his PhD work. I was able to attend his presentation, and I was so impressed, and so proud. After his committee questioned him for about an hour, it took only a few minutes of his waiting in the hall to be called back in and congratulated for passing the exam! There is a little revision to do on his dissertation, and he is DONE! He pushed graduation to March just so our families have enough time to arrange travel to attend. Last weekend was surreal. Eric and I were both feeling so elated and walking on clouds. It is so special to finally get to that moment that has been building for years and years. I couldn't help but keep looking over at Eric at random moments all weekend and just smile at him. It was our date night on Saturday, so we celebrated eating Italian street food and frozen custard, with a little Harry Potter 7 on the side.

I am so happy. It is an amazing feeling to be where we're at right now. Graduate school has been wonderful, but finally finishing what we came here to do is such an incredible accomplishment. Eric has had a wonderful adviser during his years here. He was very complimentary of Eric and has been very supportive of our family. I can't wait until March when we get to watch Eric walk in his robe to be hooded, and finally put that finishing touch on all his hard work.

For now, we are trying to focus on the holidays and making our time count with the kids. After the high of Eric finishing his oral exam, we have come back down to reality to face our unemployment challenges, trying to find insurance, and wonder what the next several months will hold. But we have the faith that things will work out.

We've been having a great Thanksgiving weekend, and have of course been reflecting on our many blessings, not just from this last year, but from the past seven in Ohio. Once I realized that we weren't waiting until Eric's graduation for our life to begin, life has been much sweeter. So now our life doesn't begin, but we commence into yet another phase of loving life as we live it.