This year during conversations with departmental friends, I discovered that I was not alone and unique in receiving attacks from a parental figure about our vocational choice, which has kept us in school for years (and thus rendering us wageless, parasitical bums who reek of steeeeeeeeeenky eeeeeeelitism). Though seemingly exciting and prestigious at first, they never really thought a Ph.D would take SO long (the average in anthro is 9 and thus I am still below average but this meaty statistical tid bit seems not to appease my mom’s appetite when she has these occasional yet voracious outburts).

Hey who knows, perhaps they are glaringlycorrect or perhaps there are judicious dissertation advisors behind such, at times amusing and at times really irritating shenanigans; our adivsor might, post-field, call our ‘rents once a year and feed em stories of our “bumliness”, white lies told in the hopes that the subsequent parental pressure and humiliation will hasten our time here…

But I think it really pains them at some level to have a kid that is still a student and thus offers really paltry gifts every birthday and holiday season.
Yet once you have the degree in hand, I am sure for most of the rents out there with kids like me it will all of sudden feel like going through 9 years of school was a worthy, noble, admirable, (it could not have been anything else for you choice) sort of thing. Funny how that is.