7 more Mondays

I have a new app on my phone.  It counts down how many days until the end of my graduate school career.  Today, it's ticking timer is showing me that there are 48 days left.  Let me give you a little picture of what this means.  48 days ago is just a little less than 7 weeks.  Did you know that just over 7 weeks ago, it was Labor Day?  Think about what you were doing on Labor Day...I was hiking up to the U.  See?

Counting down to the end has been fun, and it does seem close, but I've been driving myself crazy with how much I have to get done before they actually give me the degree.  Lots and lots of pages to write, classes to attend, books to read, etc.  Near-hyperventilation happens about daily 'round these parts, but each day, I wake up and hit it hard, do my best, and then crash.  Know that saying that you can sleep when you're dead?  My new mantra is that I'll sleep when school is done.

But it isn't all pain and misery, I promise.  I try to pack in the fun whenever I can, and I have a lot to look forward to between now and the end.  My sister AND one of my best friends are both pregnant and due within the next few weeks.  I'm going to Boston for work very soon.  And every weekend, I get to hang out with my fella and find new adventures as we work on our "Utah Tour," which includes seeing all those fun tourist things around the state.

That's what makes Mondays hardest.  Not that they haven't always been kind of the worst...but it's difficult waking up after a mostly carefree weekend and realizing it's time to face the reality of a job, school, and trying to keep up with the whirlwind of life.  It's usually the day I have to cram in all of my school reading and try to clean my house after being lazy or putting it off to have fun.  I consider the fun to be completely justified and necessary.  Of course I have plenty of hours in the day to get it all done, but that's not the point--do I have the sanity?  Gotta fill that cup and let off some steam in order to slowly but surely make it to the finish line.

A few weeks ago, I was talking with Steve and I predicted he would probably see about 2 more crying breakdowns before I'm done.  So far I haven't used either of those up.  That's because he listens to me complain, buys me Diet Coke, helps me do research, and helps put the pieces back together.  In fact, I have a lot of huge supporters: my family--who cheers me on and listens to my babblings on Uganda or survey evaluations; my friends--who understand when I can't go out all the time because I'm cooped up in my office, banging out a paper; and my boss--who patiently waits and recognizes my schedule is wonky and trusts that I can finish this up so I can be 100% at work again.

And if I'm really lucky, I'll get to pour my heart out here on this blog a little more than once a year.