Dr. Brandon Rigby

 It was nine years in the making at the University of Oregon but Brandon successfully defended his dissertation and earned his doctorate degree.

 I was prepared for him to do a great job at the defense, but even so, I was extremely impressed.  He was brilliant.
It was surreal for me because there I was sitting in a room with my best friend, the man I share my life with but it was like I was watching a stranger.  He has SO MANY THINGS IN HIS BRAIN.  He has told me about his work and I knew he was going to try and keep things simple so I thought I would be able to at least follow the discussion.  For the first couple of minutes I didn't understand anything, and he was speaking English.  I am no genius but I'm not a dummy either, this stuff is just very complex.  He has literally spent years studying these poets and he truly is an expert.
Each member of his committee had questions to ask and they needed to kind of grill him.  I would get nervous about how he would answer and then he just smiled and gave clear and precise answers.
It was fascinating, and nerve wracking, and thrilling to watch.
I feel grateful for his advisors that worked with him and am so glad that Mike and Kathy were there to take credit for raising him.

I am just so proud of him.
He worked night and day alone in that tiny little office, sometimes fighting off an ant invasion and eating cold leftovers.  He put his whole heart into studying Spanish, poetry, and self-translation while still making time to be a fantastic husband and an incredible dad.  He doesn't like this kind of thing where all the attention is on him, but this is my blog, so I get to say what I want.  And I say, congratulations Dr. Rigby.  You have done us all proud.