The inside of the Starbucks had changed so
much! I hardly recognized
the set up! The chairs--the soft, squishy--chairs I used just, two years ago
were gone. I suppose
students needed more room for meetings and desktop space. I was glad to see the
responsiveness of Starbucks and the iterative nature of being attuned to one’s
environment.
Similar to Starbucks, I too had
changed. Where once there stood a scared,
timid woman doubting herself, on Monday, September 8, 2014 a strong, confident
woman walked onto the Azusa campus and defended, with distinction,
dissertation.
After we
got everything set up, all there was to do was wait until time for the
defense. My husband, poor thing, was a
wreck. His palms were sweating, his
hands were shaking, and he was so anxious.
I took
his hands in mine and I said “babe, I got this.
Don’t worry, I am going to knock this outta here! I promise you, I got this!”
I now celebrate my accomplishment, I
recognize that I meandered through a process and as the end of this road, not
everyone is happy I’m done.
I returned to work on Wednesday,
September 10 and learned my peers were throwing a party for me on Thursday,
September 11. What an
amazing event that party was! Oh
my glory! I had a
ball! I went from person to
person loving everyone and just relishing the moments. I had so much fun! Celebrating is the way to go! Wow!
I have peers who zoomed through the
dissertation in lightning speed and I applaud them! I must had to do it in my own way
though which is a little more
slow and steady, more intentional. Like
the song says—I did it my way. I
had a great deal of fun though as I went along the way; I stopped and smelled
the flowers, looked at puffy clouds, and made sure I saw important
things. I feel like I lived
life without sacrificing it too much. I
found balance and again—I did it my way.
As I pulled into the station of
celebration, I learned that not everyone is happy I have a doctorate. Quite frankly it threatens some people
who are insecure and fake. But
in the end….you know what? Regardless
of how he feels, he still has to call me Dr. Wallace! And you know what else? I did it MY
WAY!