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May 11, 2017

WE DID IT // at the end of grad school


The end of grad school is finally here! The family is in town, Claire is excited out of her mind about all the grandparent time, and Sam and I will inevitably spend a frustrating twenty minutes watching YouTube tutorials when trying to get his darn robe and hood on correctly this afternoon.

Sam is such a behind-the-scenes guy, but when commencement, convocation, his birthday, and family in town all fall into the same few days, it just kind of becomes his party week. And that deserves a shout-out.

This guy earned two masters degrees (TWO MASTERS DEGREES) in less than two years. The last two years could easily be measured by how many hours (and hours and hours and hourrrrrrs) he put in on campus, studying, doing group projects and going to class. He was gone from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. a good portion of this year, plus many Saturday classes throughout the last two years as well.

But also, the last two years could be measured by how many times he came straight home and switched to dad mode before he even had a chance to take his shoes off. It could be measured by one million games of hide and seek with Claire, one million hours spent holding twins, one million diapers changed and dishes scrubbed and backs rubbed. Sam is such a gentle, loving, and involved dad, and he took our surprise twins and having three kids in two years with such grace and quiet hard work.

But that's not the only way I remember the past two years. For me, it's also his part-time job that he somehow found time to do on top of everything else.

It's the hours we spent fixing our terribly old and broken green van together.

It's the tissues and glasses of cold water he brought me when I was on bedrest with the twins and crying from the frustration and pain of it all.

It's when he spent his precious down time taking pictures or helping me with content creation for work deadlines I had coming up.

It's all the times he set everything else aside to gather us for family scriptures and prayer.

It's the hours and hours of church service he quietly did over the past two years.

You guys, Sam is an absolute rockstar. Of course if you try to tell him that, he'll shrug it off with some kind of joke, as if being infinitely capable and hard-working is just one of the many remarkable things he does every day. I am so proud of him, and I love him to death.

We did it! And today, we are celebrating.


Photos by Kylie Pond.

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