I have not seen this much cat hair in a house. Well, not in my house.

But, two days of cleaning has eliminated the majority of it, and I vow to stay on top of the matter from here on out.

I successfully completed the only full time semester I will ever have, and it didn’t happen without sacrifice and cost.

Sacrifice was Sam living as a mostly bachelor while I sat staring at three computer screens for full days and weekends, giving me constant encouragement when I tore myself up with stress and panic, and reading my never-ending 5-page+ papers every week.

Cost? Cat hair. House in desperate need of attention. Barely recognizable meal planning. Major dent in finances. And a lack of attention for every person who was not a professor or a classmate.

I am so proud of myself, and I think I earned the right to say that. I am two classes shy of a mortarboard, and my GPA is a 3.9 (rotten online Psych Disorders timed test from last summer). I started out this semester signed up for my capstone course in Modernism, a 500-level English class at KU that I quickly realized was WAY out of my league. But I trudged on, knowing I had to complete this class to earn the degree. I had two classes on campus, Fiction Writing and Contemporary Drama, and then I added two 8-week 3-credit hour elective courses after spring break: Criminal Justice and Religion and Environment. Never have I ever worked so hard and typed so much. Combined, my final papers totaled 67 pages with a 100-question comprehensive exam.

• My final portfolio in Fiction Writing has given me a great start on my goal of writing my story.
• I know something about the modernist writers and the Harlem Renaissance.
• I have a new appreciation for the climate crisis and how we got here, and I really admire Rachel Carson’s work, the Hindu and Islamic proclamations, and astronaut Jim Lovell’s profound statement, “God has given mankind a stage upon which to perform. How the play turns out is up to us.”
• I have a greater understanding of our criminal justice system and the complexities of working in law enforcement.
• I have a STACK of Pulitzer-prize plays and modernist novels that are eye-opening and made me think critically and engage with younger generations who are so brilliant.
• My final grades were earned, required sacrifice, and cost us dearly.
• Mom is my inspiration. If she could do it at 60 years, so can I.

Modernism – 100.65
Fiction Writing – 100
Religion and Environment – 99.64
Criminal Justice – 96.38
Contemporary Drama – 95.8

I am grateful for wonderful professors.

I am grateful for younger students who became friends.

I am grateful that I love to learn new things.

I am grateful for the privilege to go to KU.

I am grateful for the stress weight gain, but I sure am ready to get it off.

I am grateful for my sister and my brother who helped out so much with Dad so I could focus on studies, and I am grateful for my husband who made this possible.

Thank you, Sam, for believing in me and being proud of me. It meant the world to be able to come home each night after class and tell you all about what I had learned. Thank you for reading my words and acting interested even when I can’t imagine you actually were interested in T.S. Elliot or Langston Hughes or Ray Ellison or Virginia Wolff, or Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, or retribution and incapacitation and the 6th amendment, or my creative writing, or or or…

I couldn’t/wouldn’t have done this without you and I love you more than words. And that’s a lot. 🙂

Two classes left. I see the finish line ahead. It’s covered in cat hair, but still.