Defense- ah-- the cheer heard round TVs and in stadiums. especially this time of year. 
Not to be out done by my tight pants wearing shoulder pad pushing friends, I took sent up the cry this past week- Defense!
I, of course, was warmly dressed and safe in doors fighting to defend my proposal. I also had an oral comprehensive exam.
SOO to tell this story I must go back in time to the first semester of graduate school.
I was ill prepared for the challenges that awaited me and was very overwhelmed- so in true dramatic fashion I went head long into what I lovingly call "charlatan syndrome".
I had a consent fear and hope that I would be discovered as the true charlatan that I was- not articulate, nor competent to be untrusted with the knowledge so gracefully bestowed by my professors. One night- and it was a dark and stormy night- I called my sister and with large wells of tears spilling over my eyes I confessed to her- I indeed was a charlatan! I pleaded for ideas of how to escape this horror, with my dignity in tack.
I recalled she had once told me that during her scholastic adventure the idea of "small curable cancer" was discovered.
AH HA thought I - I could get a small, curable cancer! I could bow out gracefully from this arduous predicament with out anyone learning the truth. Perfect- I don't want to die, not be maimed.
Alas and thank heavens no such thing happened.
I have steadily continued through my course.
Then last week- I was laying in bed dreading getting up when an errant thought popped into my head. I could fall down the stairs and I would not have to defend.
Again with the aid of providence that did not happen.
So the dreaded and much anticipated day arrived. I woke and went to shower. I was a little on edge and thought a long hot shower would calm me. I reached for the shampoo bottle, out some in my hand and began to lather my hair. I bent over to put the bottle back down and--- I just kept falling-
that's right I fell out of the bathtub!
How does that happen? I crawled back into the tub and rinsed off. I got ready for the day. I laughed at myself. Be careful what you wish for.
When I got to school that morning, I told everyone I could think of. We all laughed together and it really helped me calm down.
The exams were long. In total it was about 4 and 1/2 hours of me presenting my organized thoughts and then answers questions from my committee. They were so wonderful. I had some hard questions I had to really think on my feet about and some I was well prepared for.
Long story not so short...
I passed both my defense and orals.
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