Two Years Gone

Two years ago, two years seemed like forever. Now it seems as though it passed in a minute.

In May of 2008, I began my journey as a graduate student at the San Francisco campus of the Wharton School of Business, working earnestly toward a Masters degree in Business Administration. The program requires all students to have at least ten years of work experience and to keep their jobs while enrolled in classes. This means that students take a full academic load while holding down full time jobs, attending classes every other weekend and doing school work in their “off” time. Only… there is no off time. If you’re not at school, you’re at work, and if you’re not at work, you’re trying to take care of the rest of your life. Spouses, bosses, children, and friends were all sorely neglected while we spent the past two years working harder than any of us had ever worked before and getting less sleep than we ever thought was possible.

There’s only one way to get through a program like this: the people. I have 90 classmates, each of whom is a rock star in their own right. They’re smart, creative, caring and deeply focused. We’ve studied together, eaten countless meals together, and traveled the world together. Fifteen babies have been born to my classmates and their spouses over the past two years, and a half dozen more are on the way. We’ve had almost as many weddings… and one divorce. Cliché as it may sound, we are family.

And now, we’re done. On Sunday, we’ll graduate at Herbst Theater and move on to the next chapters of our lives.

For me, obviously, this means more time for my blog. (Yay!) I’m so happy about the response to my YouTube channel, and I’m committed to turning out videos on a more regular basis. (That’s a promise!) I’m working hard at turning my passion for food into a career, whether it be in television, cookbook writing, journalism, photography, or some combination of the above. Some of you know I went to Food Network earlier this year, and I keep knocking confidently at their door. I hope they’ll give me the chance to a create a program for their new channel, The Cooking Channel, which will be launched this fall. Check out their Facebook page for more information.

A few of my classmates are starting their own businesses; One is developing software to help parents diagnose hearing disability in children. Others are working on technology to help consumers track energy consumption. Many are moving up within their companies or changing industries entirely. The good news is that many of them live here in the Bay Area, and they’ll still be here. Unlike a traditional graduate program where students move away upon graduation, most of my classmates will stay right where they are. This, I hope, means seeing more of each other, not, less, and enjoying each other’s company without the thought of schoolwork hanging over us.

Anyway, about this photo: This bench is in the garden of my neighbor Steffi, who lives in a 1911 Julia Morgan home in my neighborhood. The bench is as old as the house and the garden that surrounds it is spectacular. When I wandered by, Steffi was in the yard with her grandchildren, who were chasing the dog and chasing each other. Their laughter could be heard from the street; It was a happy scene. I was deep in thought about graduation and I just wanted to sit on that bench and soak it all in.

Steffi came over to say hello and we had a nice chat. And I thought, Hey, now. There’s surely one thing I’ll get to do a little more often now that school is over: Stop and chat with my neighbors once in a while.

I’m looking forward to that.