UW Red Square on a beautiful sunny day!

Above is my niece Mia who is turning two in a couple of weeks. She's getting to be a flirty model, and I think she has potential to be an actress, if you ask me.

Then at lunch today, i had the pleasure of spending a beautiful sunny, 70 degree afternoon with my peeps at OMA/D - they were doing a lunch for folks who were taking a class, or entering a degree program, or finishing one up. As Sheila put it (VP for Diversity), it was all about nurturing the next crop of leaders. I was so honored to be included, and I always enjoy hanging out on upper campus more and more (more than my UWSOM world, unfortunately)...Then found out that Jan loves Adele, like me, and Emil can act all ghetto any time he wants to and that he's a Henny guy...LOL! On the way back, I took some shots as I was walking across campus of the Quad...the cherry trees are in bloom, so many students out on the grass, enjoying the sun. I love this campus! So right now, I am in between meetings, so checking email and work stuff but I thought I'd blog these photos right away since we've missed the sun so much. I hope the sun sticks around (it won't) so I'm going to enjoy it while i can.


And on another note, I just want to let you all know that I finally submitted my dissertation this Saturday. It was over 200 pages, with 109 pages I personally wrote every word. My title is "Professional Development in Medical Education - Using a Motivational Framework to Increase Cultural Competence." I was quite happy with it, after I did some more edits. My adviser Margery might have me change a few more things but I doubt it. The next thing that happens is I have to make a public presentation about it, my work, my outcomes, etc. That is open to the public, then everyone leaves and I am left to spar it out with my committee who will question me on my process, theory, etc. That roast is held in secret, away from public humiliation!

In any event, I am so ready to get this done. I can't believe that I am so close, since I've been working on this since 1996! It will be so nice not to have this hanging over my life once it's done. I can finally do some fun stuff, like paint the inside of my house and get Matthew's clothes packed and simplify my life. I'm going to be donating his clothes to a men's recovery group on capitol hill, and I feel myself getting closer to actually being ready and able to move on...symbolically, his clothes probably symbolize this the most, for me. It has been 14 months since he passed.

So lots of changes happening in my life - closing chapters, and starting new ones. Spring is a time for renewal and rejuvenation and I can feel its energy in my life right now....