A lot has happened in the last few weeks, so a little update seems to be in order.

For one, I finished my Master’s program and was fortunate enough to see all my classmates and fellow graduates in person one final time, as well as walk and celebrate in person. My loving parents joined me to celebrate, which was such a blessing. I hadn’t seen them since February (the cons of moving states away from family), so it was a welcome addition to the joy of graduating. 

Finishing up is strange. I weirdly feel like I haven’t officially “finished” anything in such a long time, since the program is more about learning and refining rather than publishing. As a result (and just in general), life can feel like it just keeps going and going, milestones get lost or downplayed, and then one day, you wake up and you have two degrees, a job outside your field, and the thing you’re most proud of right now are the three puzzles you completed in one week...like I said, it’s weird. I am so thankful to be done, though.

To officially complete my degree, I needed to do a reading of some of my work from the past two years. I read three essays and to introduce them, I issued some well-deserved thank-you’s. I’ve quoted them here: 

“First, I want to say thank you to the MFA Team. 

Second, I want to thank my mentors, Suzanne Paola and Lauren Winner. Suzanne, you were the ever-gracious encouragement I needed to get writing, to get heart to pen, and pen to page. Thank you for everything. Lauren, you were the always-inspiring kick in the pants to keep going, to get hold of those pages again and again and only let go when I know something even better is coming. I’ll cherish every conversation. 

Third, I want to thank my cohort mates, Katie, Monica, and Morgan. You three have made everything worth it, and I hope you don’t mind that I bug you for the rest of our writing lives, since yours are voices I never want to lose. 

Next, I want to thank my family. Mom and Dad - I did it. I couldn’t have done it without your constant support, laughs, and prayers. Thank you for letting me loose in the kid’s section at the library and in the fiction section of Mardel Christian Book and Gift, and for being semi-okay with me always having to ask directions because I spent all our drives reading in the backseat instead of getting to know our city. It’s paid off now, right? 

Finally, I want to thank my better half, Tucker. Thank you for always being a well of steady thoughts, careful questions, and loving encouragement. I most assuredly couldn’t have made it this far in my writing life without you.”

To all mentioned and unmentioned, if you’ve contributed to my writing life in any way in the last two years - a Facebook page like, an encouraging text, a helpful reading, a thoughtful question about my progress - I cannot thank you enough. I hope to make you proud! 

As for after graduation - I got Covid immediately upon returning home from graduation, which was super fun. In all honesty, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world and Tucker and I got to spend plenty of quality time together (he was sick, too). Covered in snot, going through toilet paper at a ridiculous rate, and watching all his favorite sci-fi movies, being sick probably could have been worse if I wasn’t still obsessed with my boyfriend. Also, his parents brought us banana pudding to celebrate Tucker’s birthday, even in quarantine. They dropped it off on my apartment steps and yelled nice things from the parking lot, while Tucker and I coughed back at them. It was great.  

All in all, we’re both healthy now. And very accomplished. We finished all three Star Trek movies with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, started Star Trek: The Original Series, and now we’re almost through all the Star Wars movies, in addition to re-watching New Girl through it all. I don’t know enough about these things and Tucker knows way too much about them, so it works out. We both get to do our favorite things: I get to ask questions, he gets to answer them in as much detail as he wants. It’s been great.

Finally, I’ve found a few new things to be obsessed with. Namely: puzzles, obscure modern fiction, and rock climbing (bouldering, to be more specific). I’ll let you know how those things progress, because I’m notorious for starting things in an obsessive frenzy and quitting them a week later as something shinier comes along, but for now, I’m three puzzles in, I’m reading The Bees by Laline Paull, and I’ve been rock climbing exactly once (MG, let’s go again soon, pls). 

All of this to say, I promise I’m back, y’all! Covid didn’t kill me - that 99% survival rate sure is great. ;)

See you in a week with something new!