Break Time

After a few hours of working on research assistantship responsibilities, I decided to take a short break.  And I spent it in a somewhat nerdy way.  I went into the breakroom (not the nerdy part) and started looking at all the spines of dissertations of past PhD CFD students here at UGA.  I'd gone through this exercise before.  I knew that one of my former undergraduate professors from BYU had earned her doctorate from UGA, and I had hoped to find evidence of her time here.  And today I found it.  The spine of the book didn't reveal her name and year, but I did venture to dig a little deeped, and this time I pulled out an unmarked, unbound manuscript on the shelf, and I was delighted to have found that it had her name on it.  So I spent the next 15 minutes or so leafing through its pages and occasionally reading or skimming its contents.

It is neat to think that one of the educators who represents, to me, a major pivot point in my pursuing academia (she taught me to love research) had some similar steps in our journeys.  In some ways it is intimidating to think that my aspirations put me in the same league as someone I think so highly of.  But it also gives me hope, and helps me remind me of why I am here and what I am capable of.

This post took an unanticipated sentimental detour.  When I started I meant to highlight the nerdiness of my taking a break from research and choosing to read a dissertation.  Oh well.  I guess I just realized that I am grateful to be where I am, and I'm grateful to feel that I have been led and inspired to come here, both by incredible educators, as well as by the Spirit.