The leaves are starting to gently fall and in one week the weather has turned from mild and sunny to crisp and windy.
The shops all have school supplies proudly on display and my mom-friends are sharing about the joys and sorrows of dropping off their children at school for the first time.
My inbox is loaded with emails around ‘welcome events’ for new students and families arriving in Oxford.
It’s already that time again…the start of a new academic year.
I rejoice with Mandy in her recent post about her family’s exciting move and the adventures ahead of them in life after graduate school. Many of the adventures and challenges will be the same, and many will be new and surprising. (Don’t worry, she won’t stop sharing all about it on here!) While part of me rejoices, part of me is a bit jealous as I step back, take a deep breath and step into another year on this journey. Do you feel a bit like this? Excited for friends who have moved on? Excited for what this new year brings to you? A bit hesitant to put yourself out there and connect with new faces for another year? A bit ready for the grad wife life to come to an end?
I recently read a beautiful little book called The Quotidian Mysteries: Life, Liturgy and Women’s Work. One bit from the book that has stuck with me is, “it is not in romance but routine that the possibilities for transformation are made manifest.”
Not in the romance but routine that the possibilities for transformation are made manifest…ahhh motherhood….ahh the PhD process….ahh the ‘seemingly’ endless grad wife journey. As I reflect on the idea of yet another year, I find myself thankful for the transformations that happen through this repetitive cycle of grad school. Just as Mandy shared on Tuesday, I know that I am being changed and transformed (hopefully for the better) when I embrace the routine and rhythm of this grad wife life.
As this fall semester rolls in, I hope you can welcome it with courage and patience. Another semester, another chapter, another meal to cook to encourage your graduate partner, another new face to welcome into your life. Even though it seems quite simple, I hope you can find profound, beautiful transformation in the repetition.
-M.C.
the graduate wife 
Yes, so happy for those leaving but so jealous at the same time. Especially because I thought I signed on for 5 years of this but it isn’t ending. The 5 years is up, we were supposed to be moving away now as well, but it didn’t work out that way. It’s especially bitter this year starting again and I’m not over it enough yet to go out and meet people and smile and get into the routine.
Oh ML, I hear ya. I’m sorry the unexpected year has popped up. I think those might be the hardest (from what I hear) since they weren’t planned or expected. We are on our ‘unplanned’ year as well. Hang in there friend!!
Last night I dragged myself out to the first social of the year. The new students are great, we all had a good time, now I’m ready and I’m so glad I went!
So good to hear it!! Our ‘welcome’ events start in the next few weeks, here’s hoping I’m able to get out there too!