YEE HAW!!! Back from the dead yet again!

I did my thesis reading last night folks, and although it wasn't what I would have chosen to read, it went off with minimal duress.  My tongue did trip over certain "typos and missing chunks of information," but what an opportune time to be tongue-tied.  It almost seemed deliberate. (I totally meant to do that!)


As I clean off my desk and shred draft after draft, I can't help feeling like 'what next?'—like there is something missing!  Oh, I know!  The pressure (there it goes again, that dreaded word).  Pressure.  I can breathe, my family is around me, I am going to the woods today and taking them with me, whether they like it or not.


But before I go, I will address my list!   Hee hee.  Yep, my list.  I will order books, movies and music—the list of which has accumulated over the past year to equal what will undoubtedly cost me a serious chunk of change, but oh well . . . it is a celebration, right?  I will cross those things off my list and begin a new one, of course, but I will also begin tinkering with the entries I stole from this blog and try to shape them into an essay.  So, look for more listing . . . 


Before I sign off, I would like to thank a few people for their endurance during this year of the thesis.  Rob, Cece, Sebastian and Dante—I love you all!  You are those who participated by default, and I owe you much more than my gratitude.  


Thank you Rob, for your astounding patience—for listening, and managing to look engaged, as I read the same page (plus or minus a word) time and time again—for a perfectly made bed, for prioritizing our relationship when responding to my work.  Thank you to my children—to Cecelia, for teaching me that “shift,” “alt,” and “hyphen” equal a dash; to Sebastian for the bow and arrows and for “Me?  I know everything!”; to Dante for nitpicking details and providing an irresistible distraction when I apparently needed it most.  Thanks to all three of you for the endless material, of course, but more so for keeping me honest and making me blissfully proud.  


Thanks to Dr. Richard Chess, yet again, for his expertise, astounding enthusiasm, and friendship; to my father for his unfaltering love and support, as well as his humor and integrity; to Uncles Peter and Danny for reminding me of mom, and for the history and perspective; to Fran for loving me in a “cosmic way,” for savvy reading, and for the gift of fall color; to Jan for feedback and for raising such an upright son; to Delia for her deep wisdom and for witnessing so many stories; to Dan Rogers for helping me distinguish between process and product; to Josiah Johnston and Dr. Dee for writing in the margins; to Jordan Dolfi for holding down the fort that Peg Downes made of the MLA office; to Elmo and Amelia for purring at my feet; to the grocery store clerk for produce advice; to the neighbors for roadside chats; to the innocence of passers by; to all other unwitting and unnamed participants.  Thank you all for your gifts of attention, favor, commitment, and time.  


Mucho Gracias and arriba!