On the Home Stretch

I am "on the home stretch" when it comes to my dissertation- my revisions are DONE and are being reviewed by my advisor and committee and I have a date, time, and place for my dissertation (April 2nd from 9-11 am) (check out www.brandeis.edu/gsas and scroll to the bottom and look on April 2nd to see that its official). However, I thought that I would feel more of a sense of relief at being "done". I guess its because I'm not officially "done" yet- I still have to prepare a 15-20 minute presentation for my defense and then the "defense" itself. Its pretty intimidating to think that my research and I will be the focus of several prominent academics. I just want to pass!! My stress level has been greatly reduced- I am now able to sleep at night. There were a few weeks when I was so worried that I couldn't fall asleep, but that's not a problem now. My body has definitely crashed after working so hard to get those revisions done. I have to give a huge THANK-YOU to my parents who helped me to EDIT all 175 pages over a two and a half week period. My parents live the definition of hard work and determination and they are my inspiration for getting this degree. I hope to be the 3rd "Dr. Stults" in the immediate family . . . . just a few more weeks!!!