Today I handed in 5 copies of my dissertation to be bound and distributed.  I’ve spent the past week making corrections and adding an extra appendix as per the committee’s suggestions.  I’ve also been cleaning out my bench, my reagents, and my office.  I’m here at my empty desk right now, writing my last post from this computer before I uninstall my browser.  Yesterday the lab went out to lunch at a mexican restaurant and we had a great time.  Words cannot express how much I’m going to miss this lab and this stage of my life.  I’ve worked with these people for 6 years of my life, week in and week out.  The people in this lab, I already know at the young age of 30, are some of the best people I’ll ever meet in my lifetime.  I know I’m only a short distance away from them now as I start law school, but things will be different when I come back to visit.  I was more than ready to move on when I started writing my thesis, and I’m very eager to start the next phase of my life, but even before I’ve left this phase I miss it terribly.  It has been difficult, challenging, humbling, and sometimes exhausting, but I’ve loved every minute of it.  And I’ve loved the people I’ve worked with.  If only everyone was as lucky as I was when choosing a lab to work in.  Thank God that I made the choice I did 6 years ago when I started.