First of all, thank you for all the congratulations! It makes me so happy that I have so many friends cheering for me.

So here's the story... (I'm too lazy to proofread myself today, so please excuse any typos!)

Back on March 20th, I went for an interview at XC (I know, I know, you want the actual college's name, but I need to start being a little more anonymous, so XC is what you'll get, but I will add that it is in the NYC area). The interview went great, they said many fabulous things about me, and then told me that they'd like call by March 30th with their decision. All last week I anxiously waited and waited. Friday came and went with no phone call. Needless to say, I was depressed and fairly convinced that they had hated me. Monday morning I'm sitting in on a class and 2 minutes before the end of class my cell phone rings. I quick shut off the ringing and look at the number. It's the area code of XC! Of course the professor decides to go about 10 minutes over class time, and I think that I was more in a rush to leave than the students were. I listened to the message and it was from the chairperson at XC saying to call because he wants to talk about the position. I race back to my office and dial the number, only to get his voicemail, so I leave a message. I stare at my cell phone for the next 40 minutes until it rings (I was so distracted I couldn't knit or even surf the internet). Chairperson calls back, says they want to offer me the job. In my head, I want to scream "yes yes yes," but I somehow maintain professionality while listening to the details. When I got off the phone, I called Kevin, and my mom, and my dad, and emailed my advisor and committee, and knitting pals. When I finally got home, I spent a few minutes jumping up and down (I had wanted to jump up and down at my office, but was worried some might see or think I was totally insane). Kevin and I got all dressed up and went out to a super fancy dinner.

So yeah, I am going to be a professor at XC. Teaching psychology and conducting research. I know some of the details, but not all. But overall, I'm just ecstatic to have a job!

Yesterday morning was my actual dissertation defense. When I set the date back in March it seemed so far away, but then suddenly it was here. My mom actually came up for the defense, and Kathy and Cordelia showed up too. Kevin came, as well as two of my students. (The rest swore they wanted to come, but you know how it is with undergraduates). I gave my presentation for about 35 minutes, and then there were about an hour of questions. The first few questions related directly to what I had done, but then the questions turned more theoretical and speculative. Overall, the questions weren't hard and the audience (including my committee) was very supportive. After the questions, everyone had to leave the room while the committee discussed their decision. About 10 minutes later, they brought me back in the room and said "congratulations!" There are a few minor revisions that I need to make (mostly changing a few typos and points of confusion), but they all signed the paperwork.

Afterwards, Kevin, my mom, and I went out to lunch. I had to get back quickly after lunch because I still had to teach my class in the afternoon. I was about 10 minutes late for class and I could hear them all talking when I walked up to the door. When I entered the room, it got really quiet and someone said "well?" And I nodded my head, and they all cheered! Instead of actual class work, we had a brief discussion of what grad school is like. I referred to myself as Dr. a few times and they all cheered again, so I let them go home early.

And as Marian mentioned in the comments, I celebrated by going to knitting night (partly because I had to get up early today and still come to job 2). Tonight there will be some wine with watching the Mets, and Saturday should be a good celebration with some friends in the city.

For the next few weeks, my work load is immensely lighter and with the return of baseball, there should be a lot of knitting progress!