MS= Meacham Strength
A week ago MS meant something very different to us than the typical Mulitple Sclerosis... it meant Meacham Strength.
On April 8, 2014 Aaron stood in front of a room of people and defended his doctoral dissertation. Not only did he pass, but he presented with confidence, humility, ease and eloquence. I might add he looked very handsome too. Anyways, since his diagnosis with MS we wondered if this day would come. Aaron took all of Fall semester off. We focused on him feeling better and getting his life back to a somewhat normal routine. After Christmas Aaron approached me and told me he was going to finish, and he was going to do it by Spring. I was like, OK! So instead of spending New Year's Eve together, Aaron started his semester long goal of working hard on his dissertation. It has been a long few months for us both. Aaron at the height of it got pretty sick and frustrated. I think he almost gave up a few times. But with blessings, prayers, fasting and perseverance on Aaron's side, he plowed through it and finished his presentation hours before his Tuesday night defense.
As I sat and watched Aaron that night I had a wave of emotions.
It started off with my stomach dropping into a pit of nothingness, I was probably as or if not more nervous for him that he was. Once he started, he was so cool, collected and eloquent, I started to feel elated and proud. I also had moments where I felt stupid... I would think, "Wow, Aaron's really, really smart. I feel kind of dumb right now, those last 3 words I don't even know what they mean!" But, honestly I was really just so humbled, happy and so impressed by this man standing in front of me. If you all only knew. If you really knew what I have watched him go through for the past 7 years of studying and even more so the past 9 months since his diagnosis. At that moment Aaron was my hero in so many ways.
After he finished presenting, the questions came. At this point I was nervous again. I wanted Aaron to be all knowing and answer every question exactly the way he was suppose to. But, to my delight, he didn't answer every question with arrogance and exactness, he did it the "Aaron" way, he did it with humility. If he didn't know the answer, he'd admit to it, if he did know the answer, he'd answer it with a quiet, yet strong understanding of what he was saying. I sat back in awe, he really is one of those people who aren't there to be the show off, but to present and share in the knowledge he gained.
Once the questioning was done. I sat back in relief. Aaron entered the committee question answer session and I headed home. I waited anxiously for the phone to read with good news.
On my drive home I thought a lot. I thought a lot about what he overcame that day. Not just the typical fears and hardships a normal person faces with a defense, but also the walls and mtns. he had to climb with MS while doing it. I remembered 9 months back when you could barely make out what Aaron was saying. His speech was so slurred and his frustration so apparent. We worried the stress of this presentation would cause some of that to come back. But it didn't. I worried he'd lose his train of thought or forget while up there due to the effects of his MS, but he didn't. I worried he'd have a red flushing attack, but he didn't. I then had a huge wave of gratitude, love and peace feel my heart. The Lord had truly blessed, supported and strengthened Aaron that night and these past few months. I also thought of the strength and support of our friends and family.
Suddenly the phone rang and the best feeling of all came. RELIEF! Aaron passed his doctoral dissertation! He was done with his presentation part! Though he still has some writing to do, the hardest and scariest part was over. When I finally saw Aaron a few hours later, my heart skipped a beat. I realized how much I loved that boy and how proud I was to be his wife. He has worked endless hours and sacrificed so much for this point of our lives. He overcame so much to get here. We had so many sleepless and hard nights. Though life will continues, hardships will come, at least this phase of life is finally over.
The day of the defense my family showed Aaron their support by all sending Aaron texts or emails of their support with the blue MS=Meacham Strength bands. Our little family jumped in on the action:
Here is our humble hero! Love you Aaron!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
A week ago MS meant something very different to us than the typical Mulitple Sclerosis... it meant Meacham Strength.
On April 8, 2014 Aaron stood in front of a room of people and defended his doctoral dissertation. Not only did he pass, but he presented with confidence, humility, ease and eloquence. I might add he looked very handsome too. Anyways, since his diagnosis with MS we wondered if this day would come. Aaron took all of Fall semester off. We focused on him feeling better and getting his life back to a somewhat normal routine. After Christmas Aaron approached me and told me he was going to finish, and he was going to do it by Spring. I was like, OK! So instead of spending New Year's Eve together, Aaron started his semester long goal of working hard on his dissertation. It has been a long few months for us both. Aaron at the height of it got pretty sick and frustrated. I think he almost gave up a few times. But with blessings, prayers, fasting and perseverance on Aaron's side, he plowed through it and finished his presentation hours before his Tuesday night defense.
As I sat and watched Aaron that night I had a wave of emotions.
It started off with my stomach dropping into a pit of nothingness, I was probably as or if not more nervous for him that he was. Once he started, he was so cool, collected and eloquent, I started to feel elated and proud. I also had moments where I felt stupid... I would think, "Wow, Aaron's really, really smart. I feel kind of dumb right now, those last 3 words I don't even know what they mean!" But, honestly I was really just so humbled, happy and so impressed by this man standing in front of me. If you all only knew. If you really knew what I have watched him go through for the past 7 years of studying and even more so the past 9 months since his diagnosis. At that moment Aaron was my hero in so many ways.
After he finished presenting, the questions came. At this point I was nervous again. I wanted Aaron to be all knowing and answer every question exactly the way he was suppose to. But, to my delight, he didn't answer every question with arrogance and exactness, he did it the "Aaron" way, he did it with humility. If he didn't know the answer, he'd admit to it, if he did know the answer, he'd answer it with a quiet, yet strong understanding of what he was saying. I sat back in awe, he really is one of those people who aren't there to be the show off, but to present and share in the knowledge he gained.
Once the questioning was done. I sat back in relief. Aaron entered the committee question answer session and I headed home. I waited anxiously for the phone to read with good news.
On my drive home I thought a lot. I thought a lot about what he overcame that day. Not just the typical fears and hardships a normal person faces with a defense, but also the walls and mtns. he had to climb with MS while doing it. I remembered 9 months back when you could barely make out what Aaron was saying. His speech was so slurred and his frustration so apparent. We worried the stress of this presentation would cause some of that to come back. But it didn't. I worried he'd lose his train of thought or forget while up there due to the effects of his MS, but he didn't. I worried he'd have a red flushing attack, but he didn't. I then had a huge wave of gratitude, love and peace feel my heart. The Lord had truly blessed, supported and strengthened Aaron that night and these past few months. I also thought of the strength and support of our friends and family.
Suddenly the phone rang and the best feeling of all came. RELIEF! Aaron passed his doctoral dissertation! He was done with his presentation part! Though he still has some writing to do, the hardest and scariest part was over. When I finally saw Aaron a few hours later, my heart skipped a beat. I realized how much I loved that boy and how proud I was to be his wife. He has worked endless hours and sacrificed so much for this point of our lives. He overcame so much to get here. We had so many sleepless and hard nights. Though life will continues, hardships will come, at least this phase of life is finally over.
The day of the defense my family showed Aaron their support by all sending Aaron texts or emails of their support with the blue MS=Meacham Strength bands. Our little family jumped in on the action:
Only Jon...
Here is our humble hero! Love you Aaron!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Aaron's good friend and committee member wrote this comment and shared a picture of Aaron on Facebook for all to see. I thought it was so kind I had to share:
My friend, Aaron Meacham, successfully defended his dissertation this evening. Very inspiring guy who has overcome great obstacles to accomplish this all the while staying brilliantly humble and genuine! #truehero #congrats — with Aaron Meacham.
No comments:
Post a Comment