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Fin.

That’s what the semester has finally come to – the end. I am waiting patiently for my grades to be completed, but I don’t need my grades to figure out how I feel about the semester as it was.

Adaptation. I think that is the word of the semester. My family and I were dealt a mixture of blows all in one continuing barrage and I think we handled it as best we could. I shifted from the comfort of a daytime sleep technologist position (a position made of gold in our field) to the schedule of a night shift worker, started a full-time school course load, helped with a local sleep conference, and enjoyed a successful semester of coursework that I think is very likely to end in all A’s for the work put forth.

I had hopes of entering more journals to the blog, but my time priorities continually proved a need to study at every corner and to try and enjoy whatever family time I could squeeze in.

Along the way, I watched patiently as my sister evolved and grew through her pregnancy, which just recently ended with the birth of my new niece, baby Paiton Kelly Mead. I know Torrin will be excited to meet and play with his new cousin, as we all are.

I feel very fortunate that the recent months have gone without major tragedy. The road my family and I set to travel for these past four months was bound to be tough enough and I’m thankful we were able to focus our attention on the adaptations that needed to happen.

By all accounts, I consider this past semester a realistic measure of what school life will be like. It has been a sobering experience made possible only through the belief of my family, Kerry and Torrin. On the encouraging side, I found that sharing the goals of school has generated a new kind of motivation and drive that has not been present for me in the past. I’m in it for a team of people, and my results are the results of the effort, endurance and patience of my family.

However, it is impossible to deny that working nights and being so involved in learning has left us missing each other as well. Working days on a regular schedule afforded us the maximum time together and every minute subtracted from that experience magnifies a longing to be with family. That sensation was magnified in the final weeks of school as various projects became due and studying for final examinations intensified.

It is my hope that these winter and summer breaks allow for some rekindling time – a chance to stoke the warmth of family and simply enjoy our time together before the next semester starts and the process begins all over again.

I get the feeling that about the time we finally get this all into a rhythm we’ve come to know, the journey will be coming to a close and I will be applying for my first engineering jobs. So much to do after this school thing is done and I can’t express how excited I am to get moving.

Thanks for everyone’s support and kind words.