Is walking down the hallways of my department, where I was once known as a spectacular failure, and now I am known as the Comeback Kid.

Yesterday in my defense, there were only two questions asked of me about my Preliminary exams...and I have been told time and again that I nailed them both. We spent my entire defense laughing, joking, and talking about what should be added to my Dissertation.

Actually, here's a quick breakdown:

I walked into the room, and we dialed Rebecca (the 4th committee member, as she is in North Carolina). She picked up the phone, introduced herself, and joked about torturing me. Then everyone laughed and I was kicked out so the committee could confer with one another. A close friend of mine, Megan, stood with me while I waited for 25! minutes while the committee talked about me in a closed session. I could hear laughter halfway down the hallway, so I assumed things were going well. Usually a long conference means a student is about to fail, but not in my case.

When they invited me back in, I sat down to a smiling committee (and a speaker phone) and was told immediately that I had passed. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I kept it cool. I was told that there were a couple of questions I would need to answer on my Prelims before we could move onto the dissertation proposal. I took Herman out of my pocket (my avatar), and placed him on the table. The entire committee found this to be adorable when I explained that he was my secret weapon.

I read my pre-planned introduction, I answered their questions (of which there were only two or three--and I ROCKED them), and then we moved on to discussing the proposal. The whole defense took an hour and 45 minutes, but it was lighthearted, enjoyable, and awesome! My major professor told me after it was all over that this was exactly what she had hoped for, but it went even better than she had expected. In fact, each of my committee members has come up to me today and explained that i was simply amazing in the defense.

When all was said and done, I did a perfect cartwheel in the hallway outside of my major professor's office. There is little to say except that I did what I promised I would do...and now I have 7 days of vacation before I have to return to my Dissertation work.

Go me!