First off I’d like to thank all of you who provided such great words of encouragement following my last post. I am so thankful that you shared your thoughts with me! I am learning a lot about sacrifice, and, as was mentioned in comments, I am becoming more aware that it is a blessing to have a place and people to miss.
Today’s small thing was quite small, but wonderful.
I listened to a powerpoint presentation…given by my husband.
His PhD candidacy exam is tomorrow morning and I got to be his guinea pig. Listening to him spout off his knowledge about lipids, peptides, nanoparticles, and binding for some reason was incredibly interesting. Not because I think chemistry is intriguing (well, it can be, but I just took one class and forgot everything). His presentation was interesting because, wow, my husband is a genius! He’s trying to create a particle that selectively targets a cancer cell and allows the drug to only affect the cancerous cell. What?? That’s crazy talk. But he’s doing it, and listening to that boring old presentation was music to my adoring wife ears.
I know I will remember that moment for a long time. And I hope that he will impress those professors tomorrow so they will pass him on to begin the last stretch of his long journey towards PhD.
So I ask that you please pray and/or send positive thoughts for him on Tuesday around 11am eastern time. He would love an extra boost of confidence and wisdom to do his best tomorrow! Thank you 🙂
What is one presentation you had to give that scared your socks off? Mine was middle school impromptu speech. I was terrible at public speaking back then. How did I become a teacher? 🙂
small pieces of joy 
Recent times it wasn’t a presentation but confronting my prof was scary. I was shaking the whole time. Not fun.
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Kari – wishing Jonathan the best of luck today! I feel very confident he will do well. Having lost several family members to cancer, I hope and pray his research is ultimately successful. Anne O’B
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He’ll be awesome and pass! I read his report; he clearly knows his stuff. Get ready to celebrate!
Candidacy might have been my most nervous presentation as well…although the first time I lectured in front of a 200 person lecture hall was pretty scary as well.
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We have been thinking of Jonathan today, mentioned him at breakfast. Will keep positive vibes coming his way. love ya.
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Kari, I sent your prayer request to several friends of mine, so I hope everything went well at 10 a.m. CST today for Jonathan.
In my first career (before babies) I was with Downtown Redevelopment and the Chamber of Commerce. I had to speak at a statewide Chamber of Commerce annual meeting. I was 22 years old. I drove to Salina, stayed in the hotel where the state meeting was taking place, and practiced and practiced in front of the mirror all evening. The next morning after our breakfast meeting, the speakers began. I was the second one up. Honest to Pete, I have no idea if the people at the dais could see my backside, but it was shaking uncontrollably! Decades ago, we used to have an exercise machine with a belt and when you put it around your waist, it would just shake and vibrate like crazy. That is exactly how my body felt the entire speech. How in the world a person’s head and upper body could be perfectly still and their backside shaking like that is something I could not believe. It was at least five years before I spoke in front of a large group, and I probably matured a little more and had a few more life experiences by then. I’ve been fine in front of large groups ever since. Until I read your question, I hadn’t thought about that experience for years. We only had kids for a half day today. We are going to a fund raiser for Mason tonight at Chili’s. What an amazing family they are!
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Haha! What a funny image I have in my head after reading that! Its amazing how we can overcome those moments and become better and better each time after.
I’m glad you’re going to the fundraiser, I know they’ll make a lot of money!
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I remember I had to give an speech on the fly as well… It had to be two minutes and about an item pulled from a bag. Do you want to know what I pulled? A sock. I mean, really? A sock.
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Kari….we need to get our likeminded chem geeks together. Sarah just defended for her PhD in December and I’m proud to say that I have a Doctor in the family. It was on….wait a minute I have to get the framed picture of her announcement off the wall so I can copy the title down (because goodness knows I didn’t understand a word of it)…..”Influence of Peroxisomal Import and Receptor Recycling on Peroxisomal Function”. Did you get that?
When I went to her defense, my quiet say very little daughter, talked none stop for 50 minutes, used 85 slides and sounded like an alien from somewhere I had never been. Every question from the audience (because we only get to go to the public part and then the profs grilled her for another hour in private), she was articulate, seemingly informed and actually had a great sense of humor in her answers. As her mom, I could only reflect on how she was afraid to go to the grocery store in middle school because someone might see her walking down the street with grocery bags and think she looked dumb…..oh how far she’s come.
Isn’t it great fun to watch someone you love to so thoroughly blossom? You love that boy all the way to his PhD….it’s a ride that will fill your heart for years to come as he hits his stride.
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