I’m certain that I’ve shared this before, but early in my marriage to the Boss I was a middle school teacher and she was an airline employee trying to become a supervisor.  We were very happy.  We figured that with our combined incomes, we would have a comfortable lifestyle.  She made $7.00 an hour loading airplanes and dispensing airline tickets and that was okay.  If you would have told me that 13 years later I would be waving to her as she left for work in the morning and then heading to the basement to clean popcorn out of the Lincoln Log bucket (Captain Chaos) I would have laughed.  I didn’t know what home schooling was.  I would be teaching for 30 years before retiring, and having a Captain Chaos didn’t appear on my radar screen. 

It was amusing to see the course of events unfold as they did, leading to my staying home with General Mayhem (he was an only child then) while the Boss went to work.  One of the first things that she discovered upon taking her job with the army was that they paid for 90% of a master’s degree through K State.  Go.  Wildcats.  Go.  Rah.  (Sometimes, I get so excited about college sports I just can’t control myself.)  The degree was an Operations Research degree, and it was expected that if you took the job you would work towards the degree.  It had the added benefit of being something that was done completely on company time.  There were no evening courses or long commutes to Manhattan, Kansas, for classes.  Everything was accomplished via video tape or video conferencing.  The Boss began her program. 

Graduate studies were difficult to complete.  Her coursework was interrupted by a Major Havoc and a Captain Chaos and the ensuing maternity leaves.  There was an 18 month gap in studies when the Captain became sick.    She restarted her degree studies and plugged on until November of 2006 when the Boss sat me down and told me that she absolutely despised her course of studies and did not want to finish.  I said, “Okay.”  She needed to get her Master’s degree, but she could get one in something that she enjoyed (like math).  If we put her through her undergraduate degree we could put her through an advanced degree.  So, I was more than a little surprised when I called her at work one afternoon in January of 2007 and was told by one of her office mates that she was in class.  She had changed her mind and resumed studies.  This was when I realized that my wife had a secret life at work that I was unaware of, and her co-workers knew more about that life than I did.    She’d go shopping on her lunch hour, go out to eat at a restaurant, or go bowling with co-workers, and I’d either find out from an office worker when I called and she wasn’t there or she’d casually mention it hours, days, weeks, or months later.  Honestly, she could have a nooner and I’d never know. 

Class work ended last year.  The Boss chose to complete oral boards for her degree, as opposed to taking a few more classes and writing a thesis.  I’m passably fair at writing, so I voted for the paper. I could help her.  She opted for the boards, and then came up with every reason under the sun to put off scheduling the boards and studying.  It became a taboo subject, as the mere mention created tension.   I do believe that going to Iraq was her last great excuse for putting off the boards.  It would have worked, too, had one of her professors not contacted her four weeks ago and asked, “When are you going to do your boards?”  Remembering that she was scheduled to deploy on June 20^th, the Boss went ahead and scheduled this tension-filled experience for Tuesday, June 17^th.

I hear from co-workers that she became fairly tense by the end of last week.  I think she told a couple of people that they were not allowed to speak to her unless spoken to first.   A few heads were bitten off and sent rolling down the hallway.   I do not know where the other bodies were buried.  I do know that on Tuesday afternoon I received a phone call from the Boss.  She was in Manhattan, and she had good news.  She successfully completed her oral boards for a Master of Science in Operations Research from K State.  Go.  Wildcats.  Go.  Yeah.  She did it!  Yes, she did it without wasting any of that down time since the end of coursework last year on unnecessary study and preparation.  Why do that?  She crammed it all in, in four weeks and “Viola!”  A degree! 

We are all very happy for her, even if we really don’t understand what she does for a living or how this degree helps.  And, her deployment was pushed back by one month, so we have time to relax before she goes. 

Congratulations, Boss!

And for those of your following the chicken bone study, here they are.  It's day four.  No real. change.  I have no idea what is going to happen.