It is finished!

Keith has handed in his PhD!  "The theory, practice, and reception of meditation in the thought of Richard Baxter" is finally completed.  It has been ten years since Ricky joined our family and we all feel like we know a little bit about this eccentric and extraordinary man.

Keith has done little else the last few weeks other than modify his thesis.  Anyone who knows him, will know that he is a perfectionist.  The week before he was to hand it in, I went up to Summer School for a night with a friend.  On my return, he announced that he had figured out what was wrong with his thesis, something that had been frustrating him immensely,which could be resolved by completely rewriting from scratch.

How is a loving wife to respond to this?   I really had no words to say.  When I told Michael on the phone that this was what he had said, even he was rendered speechless.  If anyone knows Michael, this is extremely unusual.


Fortunately, he did not take this step, but rather did some major "tweaking".  It was a sprint right up to the end, with little sleep.  But it is finished!  We have been in celebratory mode ever since.  I am proud of Keith for completing this work.  He really did most of it in tiny cracks of time and on top of a busy work schedule and on top of caring for a wife who has not had fantastic health. He has done more than his fair share of work on the domestic front.  There have been many times in the last few years when I have begged him to give up and abandon it unfinished, but he determinedly ploughed on.  Keith also managed to make time for me, our family, good friends and other commitments - he didn't withdraw from life simply to work on Ricky - this is a credit to him.


We celebrated as a family last week by eating at Ice and Slice up the road - pizza and gelato.  Each of us shared something of Ricky's impact on us - it was interesting to hear the children's thoughts.  Keith has frequently shared quirky stories about him and some of his habits and thoughts.  I suspect that this picture postcard of Ricky will remain on our fridge, as he has been a part of our family for the last ten years and it is not easy to discard this type of relationship.  Life has resumed normal routine of sorts this week - a new routine as we don't have to think about Ricky.  We might get to go to the movies this Friday night!