I've been full of boring, self-indulgent blog posts lately so why break tradition now? I'll try to do something lighter in a few days, like the next piece of Anna & Alex. In the meantime:
It is with the happiest of hearts that I can say... We did it!!!!! Josh finished his last final exam for his last class for his Bachelor's degree on Wednesday. It's taken a long time--longer than Josh or I would like to admit--and it has been a painful road. Which makes us all the prouder that it is done.
If I'm not mistaken, Josh will be the first one in his immediate family line to finish a bachelor's degree. His parents both had some college training, but never made it this far. I'm sure they wish they could have, but life doesn't always make things easy. They set a great example for him, though, by always teaching him the value of education and the value of learning in any setting, be it in school or finding an educational TV show or just observing the world around us. Hats off to them, too, for this accomplishment of Josh's. I know they are immensely proud of him.
Josh has been doing double duty since we got married: working full-time (in Salt Lake) and going to school in the evenings. It has left him exactly zero personal time to discover hobbies, talents and little projects on the side. Our lawn has sometimes been unmowed for weeks, or unwatered if the sprinkler system was broken. (Despite his best efforts, he could never convince me that I wanted to become a handyman.) Our travel time, game time, date time, relaxation time and "sanity" time has been wrapped up in this common goal for years. I feel like the weight of the world was just lifted off my shoulders. We celebrated his final final by going to Boardgame Revolution and then staying up late with the 2007 Spiel des Jahres, Zooloretto.
I feel infinitely prouder of Josh's bachelor's than of my own. Helping him get his was infinitely harder than getting my own. Sitting back and "supporting" Josh, counting the thousands of hours he was away from the family, was much harder and much less rewarding than learning things myself! And when things got hard, there wasn't anything I could do to make things better. Just hope and pray that things would work out. I hate that helpless, "out of control" feeling when I have to just sit by and watch my own life unfold around me.
This all leads me to ask: would I do it all over again? That thought makes me sick to my stomach, so let's leave it unanswered. Suffice to say that we tried to do what was right for our family every step of the way, even when it was counterintuitive and more difficult than doing things the normal way. Having a beautiful home and steady income was NOT worth the pain and stress we've dealt with. But knowing that we've tried to follow inspiration to do things the right way for our particular family DID make it worth it. I pray that my children never have to get their college degrees the hard way. I'll do everything in my power to help them get through college as young as possible so they never understand the sacrifices that their Mom and Dad made for education.
If I'm not mistaken, Josh will be the first one in his immediate family line to finish a bachelor's degree. His parents both had some college training, but never made it this far. I'm sure they wish they could have, but life doesn't always make things easy. They set a great example for him, though, by always teaching him the value of education and the value of learning in any setting, be it in school or finding an educational TV show or just observing the world around us. Hats off to them, too, for this accomplishment of Josh's. I know they are immensely proud of him.
Josh has been doing double duty since we got married: working full-time (in Salt Lake) and going to school in the evenings. It has left him exactly zero personal time to discover hobbies, talents and little projects on the side. Our lawn has sometimes been unmowed for weeks, or unwatered if the sprinkler system was broken. (Despite his best efforts, he could never convince me that I wanted to become a handyman.) Our travel time, game time, date time, relaxation time and "sanity" time has been wrapped up in this common goal for years. I feel like the weight of the world was just lifted off my shoulders. We celebrated his final final by going to Boardgame Revolution and then staying up late with the 2007 Spiel des Jahres, Zooloretto.
I feel infinitely prouder of Josh's bachelor's than of my own. Helping him get his was infinitely harder than getting my own. Sitting back and "supporting" Josh, counting the thousands of hours he was away from the family, was much harder and much less rewarding than learning things myself! And when things got hard, there wasn't anything I could do to make things better. Just hope and pray that things would work out. I hate that helpless, "out of control" feeling when I have to just sit by and watch my own life unfold around me.This all leads me to ask: would I do it all over again? That thought makes me sick to my stomach, so let's leave it unanswered. Suffice to say that we tried to do what was right for our family every step of the way, even when it was counterintuitive and more difficult than doing things the normal way. Having a beautiful home and steady income was NOT worth the pain and stress we've dealt with. But knowing that we've tried to follow inspiration to do things the right way for our particular family DID make it worth it. I pray that my children never have to get their college degrees the hard way. I'll do everything in my power to help them get through college as young as possible so they never understand the sacrifices that their Mom and Dad made for education.
The GRE deadline at BYU is coming up quick. You better hurry and sign up so you can apply for grad school. ;)
ReplyDeleteYou are evil!
ReplyDeleteYou want everyone to be as miserable as you are!
While you're proposing your thesis, Josh and I will be playing Zooloretto. Or maybe Puerto Rico. Or you cant' go wrong with Settlers. Or maybe I'll let my brother talk me into Acquire. Or Scrabble.
Although, maybe you have a good point. I'd LOVE to go get an MBA or Master's in Creative Writing. Polar opposites, yes. But both would suit me perfectly. I wonder if I can talk Josh into it.
Congrats to the both of you!
ReplyDeleteI know how it feels, but it was me graduating. I joke that I could've been a doctor by the time I graduated, I had been in school so long. I'm glad I did it, but no one knows how hard it is when you're not a conventional student. Nor do they realize how hard it is when you're "just" the spouse. Congratulations on this accomplishment. It took both of you to do it.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! holy chunder. Your dedication and effort are certainly beyond my powers and I am sure you will celebrate your new freedom with great aplomb. Also, this gives us more time to discuss manual square roots, triangle numbers, and ways in which to best finish a puzzle without looking at the box. :)
ReplyDeletecroc, what's beyond your abilities, mr. i just got my master's degree??? I sooo don't buy that. You are capable of Absolutely Anything. End of story.
ReplyDeleteHooray for Josh! And, we really should have a low-key game night sometime.
ReplyDelete