I can’t believe I haven’t written about this yet, but better late than never.
This post is for all you married couples with one or both of you in school.
Having a spouse in school is a great definition of “delayed gratification,” when all you want RIGHT NOW is for your spouse to be physically and mentally present with you. But instead, your family helps to sow the seeds your spouse needs as they go to school: the seeds of verbal support, sacrificing time together, attending functions alone, letting your spouse vent when necessary, and many other “seeds.” These seeds bear the fruit of education and opportunities that will better equip your family for the future, and fulfill dreams and callings.
Whether it’s undergrad or grad school, I applaud you. Especially if you have kids. I bow down.
To the spouse on the homefront
Let me first speak to the spouse not in school, especially any ladies. Hang in there, the semester is almost over. Kurtis is graduating this semester, and I AM SO READY FOR HIM TO BE DONE. ALL CAPS OMGEEEE. Since we met, one of us has been in school. Four years of having to march to UCO’s drum, which I might add, is not the most considerate drum. We are ready for our time to be our own.
Anyway, I applaud you for supporting your spouse: for editing those papers, for listening to presentations, to sometimes just leaving them alone so they can study. Depending on your love language, this is either a big sacrifice or a HUGE sacrifice. I hadn’t noticed this as much when I worked at TriCorps since I was with him a majority of the day. But this semester with him enrolled in eight hours, and me at home the whole day, it’s even tougher. On Mondays and Tuesdays, I’m lucky if we have 20 minutes together in the evenings. It sucks, people.
It’s difficult to explain to those who aren’t in the same situation, but it’s hard to do anything extra. With work, school, plus church commitments, time is eaten up pretty fast. Trust me, we’d all rather be going to a movie, or spending time with friends and family, but homework has to get done at some point.
To the spouse in school
Now to the ones in school. Wow. I am so proud of you and I cheer you on. You are the ones actually having to do the work. So fun right? Especially group projects. They light up your soul, don’t they? Hang in there! This too shall pass. The home front is with you. I pray God gives you grace to endure for just a few more weeks. I pray He gives you wisdom as you tackle your schoolwork, and that He multiples your time so you can be faithful to your commitments.
So from the same trenches, I cheer you on. You can do it. You can finish. You can even thrive. And come the evening of December 11th, if you hear a shout, that will be us celebrating that Kurtis finally has his MBA.
