The Magnificent Seven

I've just come from the last of many marathon editing sessions with my DataNet proposal colleagues at the University of Washington.  A group of 7 people, most of whom scarcely knew of one another's existence a few months ago, have just concluded thousands of hours of writing, cajoling, arguing, conceptualizing, persuading, and trying (unsuccessfully) to defeat Word auto-outlining. 
Missed holidays, shared dinners over laptops, and ridiculously long days have forged an estimable team with the courage to criticize, the tentative collegiality to tease and the confidence to compromise.
Tomorrow we will upload the last of some 200 pages of Arial 10 pt type, each of which has been combed and coaxed and coerced from ideas and colleagues and spreadsheets.  Our once and future lives.  We hope. 
We commit our ideas to the judgments of unknown peers with a measure of trepidation, but also with considerable pride and satisfaction.  And hope, of course, that we will have the opportunity to bring our ideas to bear on the future we hope to create.
For now, I'm simply grateful to have shared this arduous journey with splendid colleagues who care about commas.
Oh! And Shannon… no freaking way we get that budget done without Shannon!
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My colleagues near the end of our last editing session.  Yeah, we were feeling pretty good, and not just because we were nearing the end.

Comments

[Bruce]

Nice job folks.

[Peter Murray]

Congratulations, Stu and company. I hadn't heard which proposals were asked to go forward for a full version (the one I was involved in, with Ohio State as the lead, was not). Good luck with the full proposal.

[Merrilee Proffitt]

Congrats to all of you. Time to take a deep breath and make a wish. I have my fingers crossed for you.

[Sharon C.]

Congratulations - I know how long and arduous the road to this day has been. Hoping it pays off for all of you in a big way.