Life After Recovery: A Long Overdue Update

This semester seems to be racing by...hurtling towards graduation day. I received my regalia in the mail a few weeks ago, along with a card addressed to "Dr. Ashley Leyba." It's really weird to think that I'll be a Dr. in a few weeks time.

Along these same lines, the dissertation is going well. I've begun revising chapter two, which is actually the first chapter I wrote (hence it being seriously terrible). It's actually been easy to revise so far...now that all the rest of the dissertation is written, I know what this chapter needs to say. My goal is to have the chapter fully revised by the end of next week, at which point I can draft the intro and conclusion. And be mostly done! And it's important to be done soon, because......I GOT A JOB!

Starting July 15, I'll be an upper school (grades 7-12) history teacher at a new private school in San Jose. I've known for some time that I'd be leaving academia once I received my PhD. While I love university life, I've been less happy with the politics and realities of academic life. I love teaching, though, so I'm very happy that I'll be able to continue teaching history, and in a place where I'll have a great deal of curricular control. Working in San Jose will also be less of a commute than Berkeley has been (though we will need to buy a new car in the next few months), and will allow us to start looking at houses in the South Bay area.

In other news, our household has more or less been continuously sick since we returned from Disneyland. We've had sinus infections (me and Sav), generic colds (all of us), stomach viruses (me and Sav), hand foot and mouth disease (just Sav...and the entirety of her school), pinched nerves (me), and bronchitis (J). I'm so ready for us to be healthy again...this has NOT been pleasant. I actually had to cancel a class in March...something I've never done in 7+ years of teaching.

Savannah recently had her four year check-up (warning to parents who have not yet endured this...there are shots...lots of shots). She's very healthy. We found out that we need to take her to see a pediatric surgeon regarding an umbilical hernia she's had since birth. If she were to have surgery (which is the most likely outcome at this point), it would be a super easy outpatient procedure. That being said, the idea of her having any type of surgery freaks me out. A LOT. I'll keep you updated once we know more.

And I'll close with a few pictures of our lovely girl.