Remember that craptastic week I had last week? (Hint: say yes.) Well. If you took alllll of the suckitude of my entire week (and a half, but who’s counting?) and compounded it all into twelve hours, then that was the kind of day my sister had yesterday.
She even swore in her away message. It was serious.
Her professor-in-arms had left her a message all stealthy during the night, on her office phone, so that she would be a safe enough distance away when she heard he was leaving the university in three months. I have to admit, it was probably a smart move if you know a) my sister, b) the seriousness that she bestows (rightfully) upon her dissertation, and c) the level of temper my sister displays when she is royally pissed off. I think it almost a lack of commitment to his well-being that he didn’t call from Switzerland, where they rather frown on anything other than stern neutrality.
Kim, on the other hand, has never been neutral in her life. When she found out she was a committee member short on her Dissertation Squad – again – well, I’m happy I was several states away. And I’m never happy about that.
Still, I was going to have to offer my condolences. Truth? I was a little scared.
“Sorry your morning totally sucks.” No reason not to dive right in! Heh. Then I apologized because I couldn’t bake her muffins. It’s what my family does when something sucks: we bake. Blah, blah, not supposed to comfort ourselves with food. YOU go deal with life without warm, happy baked goods and THEN we can talk.
She vented, I soothed; I soothed, she vented. Then I jumped in right on cue to make her laugh and help her plan, otherwise known as Stage 2 of all Good Plans. In fact, I think my plan went something along the lines of kidnapping said professor, brewing some Polyjuice Potion, and standing in for him on her Dissertation Squad. It would have been SO MUCH FUN! I did get my sister to laugh at me, though, so all was cool.
The next step on my sister’s road to recovery was to create further contingency plans…just in case the Polyjuice Potion didn’t quite work, you understand. (Oh, she of little faith.) I wasn’t kidding before when I said my sister and I are superior, highly organized beings. Nope. As soon as my sister had a single free moment, she was commandeering white board space in her office and mapping out various contingency plans, listing names, and color coding every available line of reason. Then she’d break for…oh, work and a meeting…and then dash back to her White Board of Super Emergency Contingency Planning! for ten minutes of brainstorming.
Thank god for her and me and most of all him when she called tonight to cancel the panic. He was leaving, but could still sit on her committee. Thank god. Still. It was nice to pretend to be the super-supportive, swoop-in-to-fix-everything sister for a change. An emergency trip to Philly would have been nice, but I think it’s best for everyone’s sanity that everything worked out in the end.
For now!
Tags: dissertations, Life, school, sisters, writing
January 27, 2009 at 8:10 am |
I love it that you and your sister can support each other that much even when you are so far apart. How lucky that a best friend was born into your family and you didn’t have to travel the world to find her. So glad everything is working our for her – “super, highly organized beings” deserve that.
January 28, 2009 at 7:10 pm |
She should strangle him anyway just for the panic he caused. By the way, i’m not reading your book reviews b/c I haven’t read those books and I don’t want to spoil anything for myself.