Worlds

I was going to share a poem with you all today. One that I had written a few years ago and recently found in the deep dark recesses of Facebook. But, I have been thinking lately about how once you put up something on the internet it is no longer yours. All of my words and stories can now be copied and taken by anyone who might stumble across this little blog. Not that the poem I was going to share was worth stealing, but one day if I discovered it posted elsewhere I think my heart would break.
Another thing I have been thinking about is the title of this blog and how I haven't actually been talking about my life as the wife of a grad student. So, maybe I will share a little of what is going on with that now. 
My husband is about to take his Candidacy Exam. What the heck is that? (you may ask) It is the first of two big tests he has to take in his program. His second test will be his Comprehensive Exam, and that will be next Spring and much more of a nightmare than this one. That is the one that everyone really freaks out about. Because if you fail that one you may have another chance to take it, but if not, you are done for.
Back to the test at hand. I have absolute and full confidence that my husband is going to rock it. He is a really brilliant man and has so much knowledge about what he is studying. It is rare to see him not have a good response to a question.
So, his test is this Friday and it is hard watching him stress out about this and worry that he won't pass. Also, I'm not really sure how to help him. I am really good at taking care of him; making sure we have food and our house is (relatively) clean (at the very least in a livable state). I do the laundry every now and then. And I do my best to make sure we have dinner every night :) But, these are not things that help him feel confident and ready to face his professors, who often seem to be out for grad student blood.
This is the part of grad school that no one talks about. How can you help your studious spouse when you spend the majority of your time living a completely non-scholastic life? I feel like we live in three different worlds. I live in one, he lives in another, and we share the third. It is hard for both of us to relate to the other one's world because they are so different. Thankfully we have one world we share together and although that world is usually affected by the stresses and difficulties from the other two worlds, we do have some pretty great times. When I look at other grad student couples, I don't know many and it makes sense why, I imagine them having an easy breezy time. Maybe we just don't know how to handle it yet? Maybe we are not mature enough as a couple to have it all figured out? These are things I wonder. But hopefully as time goes on we get better at this (at life?) and become stronger for it.