Almost There

I’d imagine the last bit of every race feels a bit like this… Like the finish line is just out of reach. In some ways it’s more torturous than the beginning, knowing I was heading down a long and fairly difficult path.

Almost two years later and I’ve done a lot. My grades are excellent (though I will never stop stressing) and it seems I’m establishing myself. Relatively quickly, I started getting comments like “oh, we weren’t worried about you.” Recently the Dean told me “You don’t need me anymore. You didn’t need me much to start with.”

I’m at the point where I kinda just want to be done, though. It’s stressful and exhausting and I would like to have my free time back. I’d also like to be able to focus on just one set of requirements. It’d be nice to be able to keep on top of grading and maybe do some more extensive planning, instead of “good enough” some times.

Money pains are easing, now that the car is paid off and my salary has increased slightly. At the end of the summer when my tuition is paid back and I can submit for a salary differential for my masters degree, things will be even better.

I’m not sure if I’ll look back at all this fondly, or if it’ll have been just a means to an end. Guess I’ll find out.