School, hair and wifedom

In September of 2008, I had a brilliant idea…I would go ahead and apply (again) for a doctoral program. A little background. I completed my Masters in Mental Health/Counseling Psychology in December 2004. At that point, I was gung-ho on only taking a one year hiatus to work and catch myself financially and then dive right into the pursuit of my doctoral degree in Counseling Psychology. Well about half-way into that year of work, I missed my baby and decided to pack up everything and go home (Bahamas). Even though I returned home, the plan was still to return to school within the next year…at this point it was April and much too late to pursue school in ’05 so I would figure something out.

I stumbled upon the new trend of online universities and in Winter/Spring of ’06, I enrolled and completed my first semester in Walden’s PhD program in Clinical Psychology. That lasted all but one semester. I failed to mention that in between this year, I had also gotten relevant information to begin applying at other programs however, either I didn’t pursue the full application because I didn’t have enough money or I wasn’t qualified enough.

I jumped back on this school thing and adjusted my options. Maybe a clinical or counseling program wasn’t absolutely necessary since I had such a strong foundation at the Masters level. Truthfully I was working, quite competently for the past 3 years with a Masters degree. So this began another series of research and applications. Long story short, that “baby” who I came home to, proposed in May 2007 and we were married in April 2008. Excitedly embraced the role of wife which ha been both fulfilling and frustrating- sometimes both at once! After 6 months of marriage, the school itch kicked in.

As the good wife, I consulted with hubby (who will be referred to as hubster, sweets or DH) about the application processes, fees and my tentative plan. My ‘brilliant’ plan was that I would actually go ahead and apply to 3 schools (later changed to 4) between Canada and US. The key to this would be- I would actually follow through and complete all applications- even if my scores from my GRE (which were about to expire) wasn’t high enough, or the programs required more experience than I had or the school just looked “too good” for me, I would send in everything required. If I was offered admission- fat chance- I would only accept IF there was no cost to us, i.e. entire tuition would be covered. Of course, because we are neither US nor Canadian citizens, there would be additional costs associated with moving, living etc but my main prereq would be tuition cost defrayed...now I don’t know how impossible of a feat this sounds to you, but to both DH and I, this was next to walking on water. Well ironically enough, I not only got accepted, but I got offered a scholarship and a GA position that would inevitably provide enough to cover the entirety of tuition costs!!!! Go figure! Of course, being the faith-filled believer that I am, I do believe that Jesus walked on water, but I think I sometimes forget that miracles are still available to us who believe, love and follow God today!

Somewhere during this application process (January 2009), I cut off my hair to pursue a chemical-free life style…well as it relates to hair. So I have what is affectionately called a TWA –teeny weeny afro which, at the time of the big cut was about 3 inches and now is fluffing out to about 6 inches…major milestone in my life especially since there was some opposition…well better described as criticism from sweets.

To date I have:

Accepted offer for admission, GA and scholarship from school

Applied for an external scholarship and currently waiting on response

Visited school and surrounding area and found a house for rent

Sent in signed lease along with deposit to the house (which both of us absolutely love)

Undergone necessary tests, medical intrusions, lengthy interviews and paid half my savings to complete the procces of applying for a Canadian study permit

Made contact with advisor and registered for fall semester

Made contact with ‘buddy’ who is a 2^nd year student who’s function is to help my transition go as smoothly as possible – she’s AWESOME and been extremely helpful already

Arranged for utilities (electricity and water) to be connected as of September 1

Undergone verbal harassment from ‘loved ones’ who feel I’m making the biggest mistake of my life which will ultimately destroy my marriage

Applied for vacation leave which was confirmed

Applied for paid study leave which was declined

Applied for unpaid study leave which is being processed

Decided on a date for departure- September 3

Ok…I personally hate reading long entries and this is about a chapter for a dissertation so I’ll stop here but I think my purpose was achieved- you should be all caught up on what I’ve been writing about for the past 7 months.