On Monday, March 27th, 2017, Anthony successfully defended his dissertation in front of his committee, several other faculty, + a few dear friends. I wish I would have gotten a photo of everyone that attended in the “galley” but alas it didn’t happen. See, a snow storm blew through New Jersey on the original date of the defense. I had a girls weekend in Atlanta scheduled + then I was going to stay there for a 3-day YMCA conference. Anthony told his advisor that there were several dates that wouldn’t work. But the 27th was the only one that worked for the faculty. I scrambled to get the conference switched to a different city + changed my flight before all this happened. This may be why I have more gray hairs on my head!!!! There was basically no way in hell that I would miss this big day. We have both worked extremely hard for this. It was 100% a joint effort, even if I didn’t write any of the words. The morning of the defense, I hopped onto a Southwest flight to only be told that we all had to de-plane, go to a different gate, + board from this other plane. Cause a windshield wiper wasn’t working. Okay, legit reason, as it was raining in Philadelphia. BUT DON’T THEY KNOW I HAVE A DEFENSE TO ATTEND!! Our flight was delayed by 30 minutes, which was cutting it extremely close. Luckily, Cammi + I both had carry ons (for this exact reason!). We grabbed the car + I sped on 295 to get to the seminary with moment’s to spare. I was on edge, Anthony was *really* on edge. It’s a miracle I even took some photos!
The defense was open to the public. We sat toward the side + got to witness Anthony have a true conversation with his professors on this topic that he’s spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours researching, writing, re-writing, researching, re-writing, + re-writing. One of our friends, Artie, kept going on + on about how knowledgable + smart Anthony is. He knew it but it was confirmed that day.
I’m extremely proud of this major accomplishment. Anthony persevered through battling Ulcerative Colitis, a whole lot of pushback + adversity, to get the paper finished. To successfully defend. On this day, Anthony officially became a doctor!
Do you see that dissertation? That is 400+ pages on special linen paper, ready to be bound + held in the seminary library!
