What a day of celebration and at the end of the day, we call him Dr. Moore! Yes, Eli sailed through his defense yesterday with elegance, maturity and extreme intelligence. Sitting in the audience, we felt the presence of all of our family members who couldn’t be there and Eli’s emotional conclusion was proof that he felt that presence too. There was not a dry eye in the packed room when the acknowledgements came up on the screen and a big picture of our entire family (including our dogs) came up and Eli pointed out every person, acknowledging them separately. A big beautiful picture of Lisa came up on the screen with pictures of her dogs and cat, as well. Our handsome Dr. Moore left out no one. He was gracious and sweet. Bursting with pride, we left the room while he stayed back with his professors to be grilled and poked for the next 3 hours.
While Eli was answering to a panel of professors, we all had a warm, delightful afternoon on the boardwalk on Solomon’s Island. The magnificent bay with sailboats and seagulls lulled all of us into a relaxing, restful place while we waited for Eli to emerge. When he walked up to our little group of lawn chairs and coolers that spread out in front of the big RV, he was beaming with confidence! Our tears dried on our cheeks in the sunny Maryland air while we congratulated and hugged him to pieces.
We said goodbye to Lisa’s wonderful parents and headed to Eli’s party on the lawn where everyone on the island knows the newly appointed Dr. Moore. The PhD parties are held at the water’s edge of the sprawling University of Maryland campus. Ken played volleyball on the sand court and we all chatted with the bright young students who mulled around in relaxed academia. The moon shining on the bay while Jolynn played the drums and Eli and his roommate played their guitars was the perfect ending to the perfect day. Perfect.
Today is Saturday and I’m rushing to finish writing so that we can meet up Eli and Lisa and help pack up his things as he prepares to leave Solomon’s. I’ll send you some random pictures, including pictures of our dogs getting a bath. Maryland is well known for ticks so we are being especially vigilant. No ticks and no ants…that’s our policy and we’re sticking to it.
The adventure of returning to Oregon begins today and who knows where this road will lead us. We have yet to figure out a route and we, of course, have a few little issues with the RV to figure out. Every perfect day has to have an RV issue and this morning’s warm, sunny air promises to be yet another perfect day. Rest assured that I’ll keep you posted.
Congratulations Dr. Moore and congratulations to Dr. Moore’s parents!
There were no shoortage of clues that Eli would get here one day!
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