Success!

What I'm doing: Drinking coffee and waiting for my mom and dad.

I successfully defending my PhD yesterday. I am soooo glad that it is over. I've been negligent to this blog during the past week, I know, so I'll post more later, but right now I want to comment on the differences between how I feel now compared to how I felt after handing over the drafts. When I gave my committee members a copy of my dissertation, I felt a completely unexpected pure elation. I shouldn't admitted, but I walked around my house giggling! After my defense, though, although I was happy, it was a bit anti-climatic. I suppose that I've been expecting it for so long that I envisioned figurative fireworks and fanfare music. Instead, I think the best way to describe how I feel now is "satisfied", and slowly, in tiny little ripples the realization and joy is coming in. It's a good feeling indeed, but different than what I expected and an odd contrast to the elation I felt after turning in the draft of my dissertation.