Comps Success

I will have a post recapping my half-marathon in a couple of days, but Matt has the pictures from that on his cell phone and I want to wait until I can get them to share that story with you. But as you may know, I passed all 3 of my comprehensive exams! 

Story: On Monday morning, I went to the gym to do a light work-out to help warm up my sore, tired muscles. Then I headed to the grocery store to get a few things for the week. After arriving home and setting all the grocery bags down, I glanced at my phone and saw I had an email from UTD. I was able to preview the message and saw it was from my department head titled "Comps results." My heart rate definitely increased as I opened it and saw this:

Jumping up and down, I called Matt on his cell phone. No answer so called his pager. After paging him, I realized I bought cold stuff at the store so I should probably put it in the fridge. Waited around about 1-2 minutes more before he calls me back and I share the great news, filled with laughter and more jumping. (I'm sure our neighbors who live below us loved it if they were still home.) After we got off the phone, I called my parents. Next I started sharing the news with others, from those in my bible study groups to other close friends and family.  

The bittersweet aspect was finding out that not everyone passed. That was probably inevitable, but it definitely dampens my celebration to know some of my friends are having such a hard time. 

Regardless, Matt & I still celebrated once he got home from work. We went to a local restaurant we have always wanted to try in downtown Grapevine, but were just waiting for the proper occasion. Over drinks and delicious appetizers and entrees, we finally got to relax and realize that so many of our prayers have been answered. We walked around afterwards and enjoyed the beautiful Christmas lights that had been put up in the area. And then of course dessert and coffee had to happen. 

Cheesecake with a chocolate swirl. It was every bit as delicious as it looks.

I am just so relieved to have it all done with. Passing all 3 exams the first attempt was never a guarantee. Something I now feel comfortable with sharing is that I even had a job waiting on me. Starting in Fall of 2015, I will be an assistant professor at a local university (if you know me in real life, feel free to ask). I interviewed for the position in October and was offered it a few weeks later. However since I wasn't ABD, I didn't feel comfortable talking about it until I knew I would be done in time. Now that I am ABD, I am confident I can get my dissertation done by July. We don't have to move to another part of the country. Matt gets to keep his job. We can stay in Texas where most of our family is. 

You can see why I feel so relieved and blessed! So congrats for living through comps with me. You won't have to read another post on the topic, promise! :)