"Super" Moments

This past weekend was the Super Bowl.  However, do you remember last year's Super Bowl?  The one where the Ravens won?  Yeah, that one was better than this past weekend's game where the Broncos didn't appear to be present....?!

Hanging out at M & T Stadium back in 2007

As you'll see from the pictures in this post, I enjoy rooting for the Ravens (you can thank my former roommate for that; we even had a Ravens room in the house!) and enjoy the Super Bowl festivities more so for the commercials, entertainment, and of course snacks.  However, since my second year in the PhD program, the Super Bowl has taken on new meaning for me.


When:  Super Bowl Sunday 2012

Where:  Library at UNCG

Who:  My colleague, Margo, and me

What:  Drowning in the stacks, we were in the beginning stages of our historical analysis of a 40 year review of published articles of a prominent deaf education journal when I had an epiphany in realizing that hardly any identity articles were published from 1970 to 2012 in this particular journal.  This revelation played a large role in my arriving at my dissertation topic and shifting gears from learned helplessness and self advocacy to perceptions of identity.  I immediately got to work on charting the course for dissertation completion and threw myself into the literature review that following fall semester.

Ravens Spring Training  Festival ~ on the field back in 2009

When:  Super Bowl Sunday 2013

Where:  A friend's house during her Super Bowl Party (Goooo Ravens!)

Who:  My colleague, Margo, texted me halfway through the game saying something along the lines of, "Happy 1 Year of Dissertation Topic Day!"  

What:  Having completed drafts of Chapters 1 and 2, I was about to embark on Chapter 3 and was preparing for my pilot study during my upcoming Spring Break in early March.  IRBs were being filled out, recruiting was happening, and trying to blend two different research designs together (which I later learned was a HUGE no-no) was being attempted.  
 

Super Bowl Party 2013 when the Ravens won!

When:  Super Bowl Sunday 2014

Where:  My brother's house

Who:  Me, myself, and I

Supporting Baltimore during my first December in Greensboro my fist year in the PhD program

What: I continued searching for jobs to apply for since I had started doing that the day before on Saturday, February 1st.  When all was said and done, I had applied to a total of five places from October 2013 through February 2014 so fingers crossed I will be called to where I'm to be as I move forward with this journey called life.  I don't know where that is just yet or what the plan is but I have faith all will turn out as it should.


Last night as these thoughts were churning through my mind, when parking my car in a restaurant parking lot, I glanced out the passenger window to see a HUGE anchor in a storefront window.  This anchor went from the sidewalk clear up to the roof of the store so when I say it was huge, it was.  At that very moment, my friend, Lisa, sent me some beautiful texts that put me at ease.  The irony was not lost on me as I had sent Lisa a pair of anchor earrings this past summer and I had to giggle at God's timing due to anchors symbolizing faith.  Lisa has been a huge inspiration of faith and is one of those friends who just "gets" me without my having to really explain myself.  Seeing this huge anchor in the window just before I received some encouraging words from a cherished friend helped to calm my worries.  I do have a mustard seed and I'm not afraid to use it!

I wonder where and with whom I'll be on Super Bowl Sunday 2015! I have some guesses but I suppose only time will tell based on jobs and, of course, God's plans!