Support over the miles!

Work resumes at school in less than three weeks….Ack!!!

Maybe it’s the fact that summer is winding down or maybe it’s because we have no more trips planned until Thanksgiving (Adam is probably thanking God for that fact) or I could just plain miss these people but lately I’ve been thinking of my UNCG & NC buds!  We have all scattered and gone our separate ways in such a short time.  Two recently relocated and are settling down in the Midwest.  One is still in NC but is a few hours away from Greensboro now.  We’re all revving up for another school year in our respective new towns/at our new institutions that we’re trying to make more familiar and seem a little less new to us.  For some of us it is the start of a second year and we’re no longer the new faculty on the block.  However, we are still striving to improve and learn and become better professors/researchers than we were last year.

Even though we aren’t physically there for each other anymore we are able to still keep in touch through social media, texting, and of course Skype.  Last year, Sheresa and I were able to skype regularly with one another about once a month and I hope that this new semester is no different!  Looking through old photos recently, I came across this one and had to laugh.

I don’t know if I ever shared this picture or blogged about this on here but this is a picture I took in the parking garage at UNCG during my last year there.  The small white image you see at the bottom right hand side under the yellow square is something Sheresa dropped off there and “hid” for me.  On this particular day she was leaving campus before I arrived but I needed whatever that paper or pile of papers was.  For the life of me, I can’t remember what it was nor why she couldn’t put it in my mailbox.  My guess is that she was on campus and in another building and then on the way to her car, stuck it there?  Was it a manuscript I had to proofread?  Something I had to sign off and pass along to someone else?  I honestly can’t recall.  Maybe during our next Skype call I will find out what it was.  However, the picture strikes me to the core because it reminds me of the kind of friendship Sheresa and I had (and many others at UNCG)….helping one another in our time of need.  During our first year, when she was on bedrest during the semester when pregnant with her daughter, I took my notes from Stats class to her hospital room to try to “teach” her what we had learned.  It probably helped me more than her since I barely understood the concepts myself and was a good review for me.  She was there for me too many times to count when the tears fell and the frustrations boiled over and we shared in the surprise and sense of accomplishment as we won the first Graduate Research and Creativity Expo that was put on by our university.  We traveled to Minneapolis to present together (what a treat it was to do one of my first ever conference presentations with such a close colleague) and we committed to writing once a week in various locations (local libraries, my favorite place:  Panera, the basement of our building, the library) during the home stretch of dissertating.  

Now that we've come out on the other side, we're still supporting each other from across state lines as new professors and in striving to manage the work/life/balance thing.  I'm so grateful for not only Sheresa's friendship but of so many others from the folks I've met at UNCG and in NC in general.  It was amazing to see so many beloved friends made the trip north to attend the wedding earlier this summer and what a fun-loving bunch they are...At one point, it seemed that the dance floor was made up entirely of NC friends!  ; )