There is something quietly thrilling about knowing what comes next.I am currently in one of the more suspended
moments of doctoral lifewaiting on final edits from my dissertation chair on Chapter 3 while preparing my proposal
presentation for my committee. Four more weeks of this phase, and then, if all goes as planned, I move into
conducting my actual study in mid-May. It feels close. It also feels like it could not get here fast enough.

And yet, in the middle of that waiting, something unexpected is happening: the future is already knocking.

I have two rhythm-based research projects with local organizations that are essentially ready to begin — waiting
only for me to finish what I started. The individuals involved are enthusiastic, the work is meaningful, and if I am
honest, part of me wants to dive in right now. But my dissertation is my priority. It has to be. Not because the other
work is less important, but because showing up halfway to anything is not how I want to operate — and right now,
my whole self belongs to this study.

What I can do, though, is tend the soil.My dissertation research takes me directly into conversations with music
teachers, school administrators, and community members in Title I elementary schools. These are exactly the kinds
of relationships that could one day flow naturally into future rhythm research partnerships.

I am not networking strategically so much as I am simply paying attention — to what teachers need, what they are
curious about, and where they see gaps that research might help fill. If connections form organically out of that, so
much the better. This is one of the things no one tells you about qualitative research: the relationships are the work.
Not just instrumentally, but genuinely. The people I speak with are not data points. They are colleagues in the truest
sense — people who care about children and music and equity, often against considerable odds. Getting to sit with
them, even briefly, is a privilege I do not take lightly.

So yes, I am excited about what comes after May. The rhythm projects, the organizations, the research questions still
taking shape — all of it. But I am also trying to be fully here, in this four-week window, doing the unglamorous and
essential work of finishing what I promised to finish.The research will be waiting. And I will be ready.