Signs of Christmas

Tree at Rockefeller Center

Friday, December 14, 2012

Graduation - May 6, 2012

Here are some pictures of my graduation ceremony on May 6. 

My parents flew out and spent the week with us. 

In February Mike Horning and I defended our dissertations one day apart. I obviously defended  first, so that means I got my Ph.D. before him. :) It was great to share graduation with Mike and his family. I am so blessed to have made such great friends in the program. We have loved getting to know the Hornings and their extended family throughout the years. It's only fitting we started and ended the program together.

The Paterno statue is no longer standing at the north end of Beaver Stadium. It was taken down this summer.

The Next Adventure

On Monday I get to start my next adventure--learning the violin. I am so excited to take lessons. I love the violin! As an adult, I have always wanted to learn. The last five years I have always said I am going to learn the violin once I complete my doctorate. Now, it's about to happen. For graduation my parents bought me a violin. We picked it up in Utah before my brother Richard's wedding and then brought it back to Pennsylvania. It's a beautiful instrument.

In July I responded to an advertisement on Craigslist from an instructor who was looking to teach piano and violin lessons. The woman said she was moving to my area in August. Well, I met her on Sunday. She is a member of my church. I talked with her right before Relief Society started, then I taught the lesson, and then I talked with her after church, all without knowing she was my instructor. She went home from church and realized the two of us had been corresponding about lessons. What a tender mercy!!!! I can't wait for lessons to begin!

I'm done!

Since my last blog post about Thanksgiving I contemplated posting about the lives of the Brubaker family, but I could never bring myself to write. From my Thanksgiving post through the end of February my life was completely immersed in finalizing and defending my dissertation. During this time we also spent two weeks in Utah for Christmas and a week in California for Stephen's (Richard's youngest brother) wedding. When I wasn't working on my dissertation I was traveling or teaching class. I was so afraid that if I posted something about what I was doing all of my hard work would fall apart and I would somehow jinx myself and not finish.

Then, on Feb. 29, 2012, I defended my dissertation. It was a great feeling to walk out of Carnegie building  and know I was not only done, but I was Pamela Brubaker, Ph.D. It's a little stressful knowing years of work and preparation come down to a two hour defense, but it was an enjoyable experience.

The Sunday prior to defending, I discovered something about the goals we  work for in life. Although achieving our goals is fantastic, it's the process we go through to reach our goals  that truly helps us become the people we need to become. Although I became Dr. Brubaker after a two hour defense, it was the process I went through that really made me who I am today. The refining process is indeed a process occurring over time and not necessarily at one single moment in time.

Graduation is a little more than two weeks away. My graduation robes should arrive in a week. I think I'm more excited to get the robes than anything. In fact, my robes cost twice as much as my wedding dress. Although graduation is merely a symbolic ceremony signifying completion, and I've been done for almost two months, I'm sure it will be fun. I love graduations! The music always gets to me. Whenever I was stressing about deadlines and work to complete my husband would hum the graduation music and remind me, "You are living the dream." Well, when you're in the middle of 'living the dream' it doesn't necessarily feel like a dream, but I'm glad I did it and I'm even more grateful I can say,  "I'm done!"