defend this

...bitches! (i secretly love to say this word. a lot)

i'm not sure where to even begin with this post. today is a day that we have long awaited. like a birthday or wedding day or trip or first day on the job. you get what i'm saying. today is a big day.

i can remember where we were when we decided adam would go to graduate school for his master's in english. we were taking a walk down colony road near where we used to live. i remember thinking and probably saying, "we'll never have the money for grad school, so if it's something you want to do, let's do it." and he did. he applied, got in and we moved up by UNCC. things were going really well those first 2 years. he got a position as a graduate assistant and was making all A's. what he was studying blew my idea of what a degree in english was. more theory than book reports. let's put it that way.

our first "disruption" happened in the spring of 2009 when we found out we were pregnant with Charis. this was a complete surprise. (duh, of course we know how it works, we just weren't "trying") adam's course work was coming to an end and he had decided to keep teaching as an adjunct at uncc. we decided to move from uncc since he was done with classes and find a place closer to our community in charlotte (proper). we found a great house to rent in a great location. i kept working full time. adam was teaching and at some point began working on his Master's Thesis. there were so many stages...write a proposal, submit it, get feedback, make adjustments, submit again, and eventually get started on the real deal.

i think we were hoping he'd get the thesis done and graduate by the time Charis came (winter 2009). when that didn't happen we had the next spring in our sights. i learned a lot about what it takes to write a thesis. and not just any thesis, THIS thesis. lots and lots and lots of revisions. i think he turned in his first chapters up to 10 times before he could move on to his second. maddening.

our second "disruption" came in the late spring of 2010 when i was diagnosed with breast cancer. between adjusting to life with a new baby and dealing with this crazy news, the thesis was clearly not a priority. but he always was working on it. once we settled into this new phase of life and my treatment, he plowed away at this masterpiece. he was hoping he could get it done by winter 2010, but his advisor wanted him to do some more revisions. ugh. side note--at some point around june i learned a little about how adam writes. he thinks first. it's clearly very different than how i write. for me, this was a turning point in how i viewed this thesis. it wasn't just some thing he could whip out...it is smart and thorough and requires a bunch of thought and time and revisions. i think this was so good for me to learn.

the last 4-6 months have been filled with making the final touches on this paper. adam finally nailed down a date for his "Thesis Defense" with his thesis committee (3 of his former professors at uncc) and he was hard at work fine tuning. his last meeting with his advisor was encouraging. i especially love that he told adam that "this is a very smart thesis." hell yeah it is!! there were very precise requirements on how to format the document. we had to find 100% cotton paper for it to be printed on. he picked his title and probably something dapper to wear. he drove to the university earlier today. at 2pm he walked into a room to face Tony, Cy, & Ron to "defend" his Thesis. and he passed! so very exciting.

for us, today is a big day. and we will be sure to celebrate.
and now the one question NEVER to ask me again, "when is Adam done with his thesis?"
TODAY.