Marco and Polo Say Goodbye... To Awkward Conversations

Marco & Polo here,

We find ourselves in the middle of 5th week and frankly we're not sure how we got here...  How can our final term be half over already...  In honor, or maybe terror, of this we have decided to write this newest blog on one of the people who has been here with Marco and Polo since the very beginning.

Dr. Mom was not only there in the dark ages of pre-Marco and Polo but she is arguably one of the catalysts [due to extreme emotional circumstances this story will not be told until the end of this series, so stay tuned].  Over the years Dr. Mom has been many things but eloquent has rarely been one of them.  She has a way of saying things that is on par with a bull in a china shop strapped to a malfunctioning jet-pack.  As such there have been many a conversations had with Dr. Mom that have never been had before between student and Dept. Head, and should never ever be had again...  Ever.  No seriously, there isn't enough Bleach in the world to properly scrub our brains with, people.  A frequent observer and occasional commentator to these awkward conversations is, Dr. Mom's partner in crime, a chemical engineering professor, Mrs. Capt. von Trapp.  Though rarely an instigator, Mrs. Capt. von  Trapp, has never hesitated to scale up the conversation, like any self-respecting chem-E would.  There are far too many conversation had and words spoken that are better left partially bleached and un-repeated but here, for your reading pleasure, are some PG-maybe-13 bits (cause bits are Dr. Mom's favorite):

• “I could star in those videos”
• “Create a standard curve” [that's five data points... We'll let you decide what the "data" is]
• “They better put that shit on my tombstone”
• “It’s going to be a continuum of no’s, from now until infinity”
• “You need to do less, better”

Get your minds out of the gutters people, they're not all what you think they are.  For all the conversations that can't be un-had, we'd never trade Dr. Mom for anything.  Being true to her name she really has become like a second (or third) mom to Marco and Polo.  How, you ask, does one join the ranks of Marco and Polo Mama-hood?:

• She's always there when we need a hug, a hug only a mom can give and ours are too far away
• Awkward conversations aside she's always there with at least a few wise words
• She never fails to listen to the seemingly endless panic attacks we seem to suffer from
• Never running out of interesting career advice
• Not to mention advice in our personal lives

Like the many members of our 'faculty therapy team', in her own unique way, Dr. Mom was always exactly what we needed when we didn't even know it.  We can't count the number of times when a few minutes with Dr. Mom could turn a no-good-very-very-horribly-bad-day into a fit of tears from laughing so hard.  For that we don't know how to even begin to say good-bye.  So here's to you Dr. Mom, for just being you, and letting us see a glimpse.

Marco, Polo, and Dr. Mom posing for Dr. Mom's Christmas snow-globe [2011]

Stay Nerdy and Study On,
Marco and Polo