I would like to have a weekend to recuperate from my weekend, but that’s not gonna happen, so I’m heading to bed in the next hour to get some extra shut-eye before work tomorrow. Four of my kids left for camp on Thursday and will return tomorrow, which meant that my eldest and I had a few days to ourselves! Not to mention, he spent Friday night and tonight at his dad’s house, so I’ve had several waking hours all to myself. I have to admit: it has been eerily quiet at times. But, all in all, it has been nice to get a lot of work accomplished without interference.

I rediscovered the floor in the living room & study (dining room-turned-study), purged & organized bags full of recyclables (ie, school papers that didn’t go in the “keep” folder for the year), trash and claim-it-or-lose it items for the kids to retrieve when they return from camp. It feels good to have a relatively clean house … at least in the common areas. Bedrooms and the garage are still huge undertakings for another day.

My big goal was to finish my final paper for my Health Policy class by Saturday. It was the last project for my last normal class EVER. Technically, it was due today, but I got to a stopping point on Friday night and hit a wall where I simply couldn’t look at the paper any more. I felt like I’d said everything I could think to say, and I just didn’t want to write another word. I remembered that my prof said she would review drafts, so I emailed it to her to solicit her input. She emailed me back on Saturday and offered an A- for the paper, as-is. (I made some dumb mistakes with citations that I should have caught, but she said that overall, it was well written.) With my earlier semester grades being all As, that meant that I would still make an A in the class. The perfectionist nerd in me said to go back and make the necessary edits, but the pooped-out part of me said, “Heck yeah! I’ll take it!!” So, I finished my semester a few days earlier than anticipated … woohoo!!

With that VERY LAST ASSIGNMENT behind me, that means I can now officially begin my dissertation! Several folks have asked how things will progress from here, so in case you’re curious, here’s a tentative run-down:

1. My first order of business is finishing Chapters 1-3 (intro, literature review & methodology), one at a time, sending each chapter to my committee chair for approval. I can begin this step right now.
2. After Ch. 3, I can defend my dissertation proposal (in essence, the clearly mapped out project that I want to research). This should be mid-fall.
3. Once I defend the proposal, then I’m officially ABD (all but dissertation, or “all but done” 🙂 )
4. At that point, I move ahead with my research and Chapters 4-5 (results/findings and implications/applications). Hopefully, this will be mostly finished by the holiday break or shortly thereafter, if I’m really disciplined. Because I’m not conducting an extensive human subjects research project, hopefully I can wrap up sooner than later.
5. In the spring, if all goes well, then I will go back to Georgia to defend my dissertation (the whole kit & caboodle) in person, in front of my committee and anyone who wishes to attend.
6. Once I defend my full dissertation and it is accepted/approved/given a thumbs-up, then I will officially be “Dr.” and finished with school!
7. Some people choose not to participate in graduation, but I’ve worked so hard for so long, and the kids have been looking forward to it for years, so I’ll figure out a way to get all of us back to Georgia in early May for graduation. I think it will be special for them to see me be “hooded” with my cap & gown and witness the ceremony. Plus, I want them to meet some of my friends & professors who have heard so much about them for the past 3-4 years!

Clear as mud? I’m so excited to finally be at this phase of my studies! It still feels a bit surreal, but I think after I go to campus next month and visit with my committee and see my cohort peers, then it will sink in that THIS IS HAPPENING. Someone pinch me!