Melting Stress

I passed.  On the 16th I defended my thesis and I succeeded!  The seemingly never-ending loop of grad school closed.  And it feels so good to be done.  I think it is still sinking in.  Now that there is less pressure I'm also more interested in my thesis work - I'm going to look into some avenues that I just didn't get a chance to explore and perhaps they will make it into the journal articles.

Since getting done on Friday I've eaten really good food and devoured a good book.

When I found this author I really wanted to read 'Habibi', but then decided that the high praise given 'Blankets' warranted a reading of it.  Cleo got both of them for me for Christmas and I decided to read them in the order they were published.  I have to say I related to the main character in 'Blankets'.  When he was younger he was plagued with religious guilt and it colored his entire world.  I also related to growing up in rural Wisconsin.

My LilSis is 7 years younger than me so we were never really close when we were small, but we did share a room.  The scenes of him and his little brother sharing a bed often made me laugh, like the one below:

I'm currently in the middle of 'Habibi' and it is a compelling read.

Two PostSecrets that caught my eye this week were:

I wonder the same thing and think maybe this stems from watching too many crime shows.

This one I agree with - if someone wants to give me well-wishes, I don't care what words they use.  I'm not offended.  I've also come to terms with people I love saying that they will pray for me, for the most part, especially when they are sincere.  I am grateful that they are thinking of me and wish me well.


Hoping everyone has a happy Sunday!