It's official: Dr. Towle!

Mike said that I am the first Dr. Towle in his family. I am still amazed that I have finally reached the end of all my academic striving. We had a wonderful trip down to Florida. The defense was actually enjoyable! It lasted two hours, but the questions and discussion were so interesting that I wished it could have lasted longer. My professors were wonderful with their questions and comments! It was not a trial by fire but more like a discussion among colleagues. My parents came down to Florida for the big event, and it was so marvelous to have them there with us. They both said that they got choked up at my defense. Mikey was a good little traveler, having his naps and meals delayed, spending lots of time in the car, meeting lots of new people, and sleeping in different portable cribs. He thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa, which was very helpful for me, since I still had to do some last minute preparation before my defense.
We happened to be on the same flight down to Florida as our friends the Feingolds. Dr. Larry Feingold was one of the professors on my dissertation board. They were wonderfully helpful with our luggage and taking care of Mikey on that first day. They even treated us to an anniversary dinner at our favorite pizza place: L'Appetito. (We flew down on August 11th: our second anniversary.) We stayed with our friends the Collinses the first night we were there. They have a little boy who is two weeks younger than Mikey. It was wonderful to see them! We also saw our old professors, some classmates, and Mike's old roommate, who is now studying to be a priest for the Diocese of Venice (Florida). The second two nights in Florida we stayed in a beautiful hotel near the beach with my parents. The last morning that we were in Naples (Friday), we got up early (Mikey got us up) and went for a walk on the beach. Mikey actually was scared of the sand and the water, which kind of surprised me. The beach was so calm and peaceful, and the water was warm and serene. It was really lovely to spend that time on the Naples beach with Michael, Mikey, and my parents: a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. After we dropped my parents off at the airport, we visited with our old friends the Meloches for a bit, and then we headed up to Ocala, the "horse capital" of the U.S., to see the Irwin family. Our time with them was too short, but it was wonderful to see them. They treated us to dinner and icecream and showed us a little bit of Ocala. Our little nieces and nephew have grown up so much in the year since they moved away. Mikey liked hanging out with his cousins, but he was kind of shy and a bit out of sorts (I think all the vacationing was catching up with him). The Irwin kids were very sweet to Mikey. They wanted him to take a bath with them, but he just screamed and cried and absolutely refused. Oh well, I guess we'll have to wait until next time. We have some cute pictures from the trip, but they are on Mike's computer, so I will have to post them once I can get my hands on them.