Peaches

This is a picture of me and my fellow Peaches. All you need to know about the name is that it's a long story that involves an end-of-semester paper, alcohol, a song from the 70s, a practical joke that the target never understood, and five friends. We all started our Ph.D. program at Purdue together and we'll all be finishing around the same time (a 1 year gap counts as "around the same time", right?). During our four years together at Purdue, six of our children have been born (Sydney, Noah, Gavin, Vivian, Charlotte, & Evelyn), we've thrown 5 bridal or baby showers for one another (and probably another 5 for other people), ate countless meals together, celebrated numerous accomplishments (like PRF grants, teaching awards, and finished defenses), exchanged hundreds of emails (about everything from party invitations to article solicitations to baby announcements), and talked for what has probably amounted to several hundred hours (seriously). The photo above was taken last week at lunch, which was the last gathering where we all could be together (minus a few of our little Peaches) as Purdue students. These ladies, Rebecca, Brenda, Elizabeth, & Kristi, mean the world to me and I can't wait to see them again soon!