They like me, they really like me!

So this is why Thursday was a Very Big Day. It's weird to write about this, because I am kind of bashful (and sleepy and dopey too, come to think of it), and I'm not comfortable drawing attention to myself... but I'm also really really excited about this. And what better way for a bashful person to celebrate herself than pseudonymously? So here goes. Thursday we had a big honors convocation on campus, as we do every spring, with faculty in full regalia and Board of Trustees folk all in the front row and a Big Gorilla speaker and recognition of Phi Beta Kappa inductees and such. And, in the middle of all this, they present an award to the Honors Professor of the Year, a faculty member chosen by the students each year to receive a hilariously large trophy and a rather substantial check. I've watched previous professors win this award, and they're always my favorite people on campus, and I find myself thinking "boy, if I really work at this, if I get good at what I do, maybe someday down the road, five or ten years, I can aspire to that." And then I feel presumptious for even having that thought.

Well, as you've probably guessed, that little fantasy moment became real about ten years earlier than I'd expected. (They're very careful to keep this a total surprise to the winner, and believe me, this winner was surprised.) They begin with a little speech describing the professor and the things students have said about him/her, and they slowly become more specific in the description so that everyone in the auditorium is trying to guess who it is. I figured it out (Holy Shit!) at exactly the same moment that one of my colleagues sitting just in front of me elbowed the guy next to him and whispered gleefully "Hey! It's Pilgrim!"

So there was that, and some photos and interviews, and lunch with the chancellor, and that was my Big Day on Thursday. :) I'm slowly getting the hang of this... my husband and I mock-squabble over things all the time, but since Thursday, every argument effectively ends with the statement "I have a big fat trophy. I can do whatever I want."