A few months ago, I’m running with my running partner. I miss her rather terribly. At this time, she was kind of down on herself in the middle of her third year slump. I was trying to lift her spirits, and the conversation went like this:
Her: Grad school is shit! Why do I always feel like I’m such SHIT at this stuff?!
Me: Grad school is shit, and to the grad school, you ARE shit. But the key to grad school is being the floater in the bowl. No matter how much they try to flush you down, you are THERE.
Her: (gasping with laughter because it’s really hard to laugh when you’re running) That’s hilarious and really awesome.
Me: Take it from me! I am the floater in the bowl of life!
Her: YEAH! YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO FLUSH ME, YOU BASTARDS!
(We spend a few minutes triumphantly whooping and hollering as we run down the street)
…a few minutes later…
Her: I think that was the best therapy session I ever had.
