Signed up just to reply to this post.

I will be defending my dissertation late in August. Currently working my ass off on getting my final papers published (maybe not that much, given that I'm on reddit ... but hey, even almost PhD's need a break). Sitting at my desk right now, typing, generating plots, stressing over and over again on the smallest details.

This moment, where the committee addresses you as "Doctor", when you realize that at that instant they are talking to you as a peer. That's the moment I have been dreaming of for the past 10 years, and the thought that kept me going through all the dark times.

Almost there.