Long Time Coming

My apologies to the Daily Deacdom on Friday for missing a post – it had been a long, tough week.  For those of you who have been following the blog for a long time, you might recall me mentioning that I am currently in a grad program trying to get a PhD in higher education.  It has been a wonderful program to help me learn more about student development theory (all the internal processes your Deacs go through as their brains continue to develop and they grapple with identity, goals, choices, and more), how colleges and universities are organized, how to think about issues of equity and inclusion at the college level, and more.

There are many great points about my program, but one of the really lousy parts of it is there is this draconian policy that says PhD students have to fulfill a ‘residency requirement,’ as a ‘full time student,’ which means you have to take two classes at a time for two semesters in a row.  Taking two graduate level classes at a time, while still fulfilling my job responsibilities at work (and being wife to my MA ’94 hubs and mom to our ’27 Deac) has taken its toll.  I’m in two classes this semester at UNC-Greensboro (on two different nights, no less) and will have to do two more in the fall (likely on different nights again).  With that class schedule and the commute, I haven’t just been burning the candle at both ends – the wick is nearly gone.

I am nearly through with my coursework and then will have to begin writing a dissertation. I have worked too hard for this PhD to stop now, so I have had to reassess everything I do at work and at home to see where I can pare down.  And as much as the Daily Deac has been my baby for the past 8 years, the “Daily” part of “Daily Deac” has become too much to keep going 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year.  It makes me sad even to write that.  I’ve tried to juggle it with everything else and thought I could.  But I can’t.  It’s been a long time coming for me to realize it and admit my limitations.

I don’t want to give up blogging completely though – and would hate to lose all of you as readers – so we are going to be moving from the “Daily Deac” to a “Monthly Mother So Dear.”  I’m going to do my best to try and capture the same Daily Deac spirit, but instead of it coming to you every weekday, it will be a once-a-month thing.  I welcome your thoughts about what you’d like to see in the Monthly Mother So Dear – I know everyone loves the Five Senses posts, so I promise at least two issues of the twelve each year will be those.

You can still get your daily fix of Wake Forest by following the plethora of social media outlets run by the university.  And I hope you will still stick with me during this new phase of the blog.  It’s a big change, but one that will be healthier for me.  I hope you understand.

And speaking of stick with it – if you stuck with this whole blog post: belated April Fools!  I’m not going anywhere 🙂  XOXO