Quick Successions: New Mexico Edition

I like it when the school year ends because I can running in the evenings, rather than going to class. This is along my path by the Haskell Indian Nations University, which is also in Lawrence. I liked the pinks and the puffy clouds as the sun set. Kansas is a good place for watching clouds move quickly across the sky. A couple of weeks ago I passed my dissertation proposal defense and last week my ethics board approval went through, so I am officially working on my dissertation. I also finally finished the book I have been working on for just over a year. It is called Exploring Pedagogies for Diverse Learners Online. 93,000 words and 320 double-spaced pages. The book should be coming out towards the end of the year. It was a lot of hard work. When I sent the manuscript to the publisher I was at work. At the behest of my research partner, I took a victory lap around the building and came back to work on my next project, which is a textbook chapter about transitioning Special Edu...

The last day of classes was May 7, which was a Thursday. I didn't really notice. I still had a lot of stuff to do. The day before I had turned in a paper and I still had a final exam to do for another class and a major project for a third class. The final exam was in seven pieces--fifty short questions and two long ones. It took me about five hours. I finished and then went running. Hannah tried on my headphones for good measure. The project was up next. It was 60 pages long. I turned it in Tuesday. The rest of the week I went to work and helped write a conference proposal and a chapter proposal and did my part of another findings project. Brian proctored a final, finished his final assignments and did grading for his classes. I met with my adviser. So did Brian. Away from work, I wrote my dissertation proposal and coordinated the preliminary defense. My major professor's back is out and everyone is leaving soon for summer fun so it was tricky to settle on a time that...

While I was in Chicago my gums started to hurt. I pushed through the pain and thought it would go away. It didn't. It got worse. By the next weekend I wasn't going to commit suicide, but I was sort of hoping I would die. It was the worst pain I have ever had in my life. Worse than when my brother kicked a board with a nail it into my head. Worse than when fireworks exploded in my hands. Worse than cutting my ankle on barbed wire while running to the creek to find my sister. Worse than getting a curtain hook woven through my leg. Worse than transitional labor (that did hurt, but only for a few hours and I had pain meds to help me). And of course, this was a week that I had presentations to make and papers due and work to catch up on AND a talk to give in church and Sunday school lesson to give. And of course Hannah was sick with a cold. And of course Brian wasn't feeling well either. I was able to do everything on Sunday but the Sunday school lesson. I told the bishop that...