Posted by caraher on July 27, 2005, at 15:18:18
Yesterday was my oral dissertation defense, which I passed. It's at this point that people start in with the cracks about being a "doctor" who cannot heal anything. Anyway, I'd scheduled a T appointment for the following morning, which was (of course) this morning.
The session focused on passing the defense, my reactions to it, those of people around me, what I drew from all that, etc. I felt a bit odd because I'd hoped to feel more relieved when it was over, but really mostly felt tired. And the main thing I kept telling people was that I'm not completely done until I make some revisions in my thesis and get the final version approved and submitted. Or in other words, I still haven't done anything yet (basically how I tend to look at my 41 orbits of the Sun).
Anyway, at the end of the session she asked if she could show me something. She removed from the closet a helium "Congratulations!" balloon and a plant, which she gave me! I was really, really surprised! She talked about how excited she was that I'm finally finishing this PhD and thought I should know that, and asked if she could give me a hug (which has never happened before, the only other physical contact we ever had was probably a handshake when we first met).
It was so unexpected... I think this is the one place where others would really appreciate what that was like for me...
poster:caraher
thread:534293
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050725/msgs/534293.html