Hurdle #3

Today was a BIG day.  As I explained when I wrote about Portfolio 2 back in November, part of my program is going through three portfolio reviews, with the third one coming after all coursework is completed.

I PASSED PORTFOLIO 3 TODAY!!!!!!!!

I have a new title:  Doctoral Candidate!

And I am officially "ABD" – All But Dissertation!

When I was offered a three-year scholarship in the spring of 2012, this about summed up my attitude:

And now that I have passed all three Portfolio Reviews, I have two huge hurdles still in front of me:  Proposal, which I am going to begin on Monday; and after I successfully write and defend my Proposal, the final hurdle will be Dissertation.

I don't know who coined this phrase, but at this moment in time, it is resonates very strongly with me because I cannot believe I am done with regular classes:

I have a million people to thank for supporting me through this first part of the program – my fellow doc students, who are always reassuring and happily commiserate when things are tough; my amazing committee, from whom I have learned more than I ever imagined possible; my friends, who keep me sane and tell me they believe in me; my awesome work wife who checks in constantly and brings me food when I am too busy to go to the grocery store; and my family members, who support me in every sense of the word.

But there are two people who I absolutely would not have survived these three years without.

First, my mom, who drops everything at a moment's notice to help me with any and every thing I need – especially with caring for our dogs when I have long days or sitting at my house when I can't stay home with a sick dog – and who is the queen of encouragement.

Case in point:  I texted her as soon as I got out of my Portfolio Review today to tell her I had passed and this was her text back to me:

How lucky am I

to have this phenomenal woman in my life?!?

Second, and most importantly, C, who has made countless sacrifices for me and has kept the entire household running, particularly over the past two months while things have just been insane for me.  He is my biggest cheerleader, he makes me coffee at all hours, and he beautifully handles the most daunting of tasks – waking me up from random naps when I have work to do but accidentally fall asleep from sheer exhaustion (if you know me, you are well aware that waking up is my very least favorite thing to do of all time and I am a bear).

So I have a few days to catch my breath before the Proposal class begins on Monday.

And then on Tuesday, the next big adventure in my teaching career begins…I am teaching a Master's level class on Literacy assessment for teachers in the Reading Specialist program.  I am so excited!  I am the professor!  Not a TA, not a co-teacher, not a co-instructor, but THE PROFESSOR!

Visions (or perhaps delusions) of Professor McGonagall…

:-)

Happy Tails to you!