Finishing

John has photographed me many times in the nearly two years I have plugged away at a master's project on migration in ancient Rome. But never have I looked as -- satisfied? relaxed? -- as I did on Saturday, June 8, after I sent it off to my professors. 

Anyone who has ever thrown themselves off a cliff (metaphorically), then wondered why they did it and whether they would survive, will understand my feelings on Saturday when I pushed the “send” button on a 162-page thesis for my Graduate Liberal Studies master’s program at SFU.

Relief, amazement that it’s over, plus a certain amount of pride in sheer perseverance were my main reactions as I sent my paper – commonly known as “the albatross”—winging its way through the internet to my professors.

The Graduate Liberal Studies program is for non-academics, often retired or semi-retired, wanting to learn more about the basics of Western civilization. So we are amateurs dabbling in unfamiliar waters, which seems like dangerous territory for a lengthy, in-depth paper on anything. My solution was to learn something really well – in my case a certain aspect of ancient Roman history – and draw conclusions applicable to modern life. Fanciful? Ridiculous? Who knows what the “real” academics will think?

But in a way, it doesn’t matter. I jumped off a cliff when I started this project nearly two years ago, I learned a lot on the way down -- and I survived.

Part of my "finishing up" celebration was a traditional eye-dotting ceremony.  My niece Aya brought back a figurine from Japan and quietly explained that when you start a project, you dot one of the eyes, and when you finish, you dot the other. As I laboured on through my seemingly endless paper, the figurine with the one dotted eye challenged me to continue. It was a thrill on Saturday to black in the other eye.

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My mascots throughout the project. One was the figurine, now with two dotted-in eyes. Another was the flowers-and-butterflies card that Etienne, Aya and Emi gave me for my birthday last September. It was a cheerful addition to my desk, a reminder of summer days to come. The other was a little stuffed cat knitted by my friend Linda, who cheered me on throughout.