Joe Gets Defensive (and I--of Course--Get Weepy)

This morning we woke up early, got some coffee, and drove to EWU's campus so Joe could spend one hour and fifteen minutes answering a panel of faculty's questions about creative nonfiction and his thesis of creative essays.

Here he is after passing his thesis defense with some friends that came to watch.

 

We went out to lunch to celebrate, and then we took a nap. We're exciting people.  

To no surprise, I got a little teary-eyed during his defense. Watching him expand on the possible limitations of present tense in nonfiction writing, I thought about how we met about six years ago in a writing class, how we've been through all these years of undergrad and graduate school together, how we've been new and then not-so-new teachers together, how we've moved away and then farther away together, and how none of this would have been as fun or bearable without him. And now, as we wait to hear back about job interviews, and wait to know where we'll be in the next couple of months, I can know for sure that even though we have no idea what's about to happen, life seems pretty good at making sure you end up where you should be, or if not that, at least who should be next to you.