Deadline Widow

I'm married but where is my husband?  He's here, physically, but mentally and emotionally, not so much.  The last several weeks have been filled with deadlines.  He spends all day in the cave (a corner in the boys' bedroom) where he's been hibernating for over a year now and surfaces for nourishment and other necessities only.  Oh, and to give me assignments.  He usually stands next to the kitchen sink while inhaling his calories, which I've found is my pet peave.
First he was getting ready to defend his thesis.  Between the time his committee accepted the paper in order to schedule the defense and the actual defense, he was cramming to prepare for any questions they might throw at him.   He  practiced his presentation on me while I drove us all to Corpus Christi for his (6 hour!!!) interview.  I tried to follow it for the first minute or two but I've never been drawn to geology so my mind wandered the next 45 minutes.  He also practiced giving it to the geology class he teaches at the college.  Benjamin's prayers for the month prior to his defense usually included "Please help Dad to get a check plus on his thesis."
When the day finally came he was relieved to have the chance to get it over with.  Per tradition he was to bring refreshments to serve afterwards (really awkward if you don't pass).   After presenting and fielding questions they sent him to the hallway to sweat it out.  Upon invitation he reentered the room to his committee chair holding out his hand saying, "Congratulations."
Which brings us to the next deadline.  They required a few revisions, which was expected.  What he thought would take three or four days turned into a week and a half more in the cave.  He submitted it to each committee member to be signed off but none of them seemed to sense the urgency to get re-read it and respond.  One did right away but the others sent it back to Paul to continue to fine-tune it.  Finally, this morning all agreed it was acceptable and I had to run out to Walgreens followed by Wal-Mart to find special paper for all the members to sign.  I came back just in time for him to print out the single page and run around town gathering the signatures.
Only after he had the signatures in hand was he allowed to make an appointment with the formatting lady (who was having a bad day, or at least that's what I'm choosing to believe).  She gave him a hard time but finally let him make an appointment for TODAY.  But he first had to find the place on campus that would print the 160+ page document in color.  And do it all before the class he had to teach.  Well the printer was too slow (lots of detailed maps) so he talked Laura (bless her heart), the lady running the printer, into turning it into the grumpy lady so he could scoot to class.
When he got home he realized an additional 20 pages of the appendix were left off and he had to call and beg Laura (bless her heart) to print it and deliver it to the grumpy lady since we're 45 minutes from campus.  Laura (bless her heart) agreed  and he's hoping the grumpy one won't require him to re-submit it since it wasn't handed in all together.
So the next deadline is making the changes the grumpy one requires in time for graduation.  It would be nice since Paul's parents are coming down from UT.  He's also trying to meet a bunch of non-academic deadlines like official transcripts, cap/gown, etc.


*A note on Paul coming home after passing the defense:  the kids heard the car and ran outside.  Leah made some comment that his hair was all ruffled, his tie was undone and he had juice all over his front.  Isaac made him a sign that stretched across the entry hall and made him run through it like it was a finish line.  Leah decorated a fluorescent green poster board and hung it from the ceiling.  We all cheered and then Paul and I got a babysitter and went to Olive Garden where he gave me the play-by-play.  That night we all thanked God that Dad got a check plus on his thesis.