Here We Go a Wallowing.....

I'm not proud. I admit it. I have been deeply ensconced in a good wallow this past month. And over nothing of monumental importance in the grand scheme of things. My girls are amazing, healthy, and happy. My husband is patient, funny, and wicked smart. My home is lovely. Summer's oppressive heat at last has broken and the leaves are beginning to turn. So what if my major advisor has decided to ride off into semi-full retirement and will be handing me off to the professor in early modern England who my department just hired? And really, does it matter that I received this news out of the proverbial blue right after I finally finished my first chapter draft and felt like I might be able to do this thesis thing after all? Yes, I will be working hundreds of miles away from an advisor I will meet for the first time in about a week. True, I will never have a class, seminar, or even TA-ship to build a relationship with said professor. And for those of you keeping score at home, my soon-to-be-former advisor was indeed the last professor remaining in the history department who served on my comps committee and original thesis committee. Is that really such a big deal? Apparently, it was. A big enough deal to render me completely numb and utterly useless for a few days. Old movies were watched. Favorite books were read. I think a milkshake was involved at one point. Yet, every day something amazing happened. The sun still came up. Ellie's school year commenced. Ginny learned about a hundred new words. Dave started this round of classes at the U. Dear friends discovered new pregnancies or continued counting down the days of pregnancies long-endured. Life went on. Imagine that. And so I shall plow forth - slightly daunted about writing a thesis for a relative stranger, tepidly abashed for my rather pathetic behavior, and vaguely intrigued by what lies ahead. You never know. This new advisor could be the driving force that will propel me toward the Pulitzer Prize in History. (The Pulitzer. For a book about river engineering projects in early modern England. Then again, maybe not.....)