Saturday, April 6, 2013

New Beginnings

March 15th was match day and across the country medical students opened envelopes at exactly the same time saying where we have been sent for residency. Its an intense process, as all of the other scenarios, possibilities, and opportunities vanish out of the realm of possibility in one instant. Couples and families suddenly contemplate separations or cross-country moves, or experience the relief that all those worst case scenarios that a moment ago were possible, now will not come to pass.
 
my match letter
I matched at Contra Costa Family Medicine Residency, an amazing program based in a county hospital about an hour outside of San Francisco. I'll be working hard, probably harder than I would have at most family medicine programs, but I'll be training in an environment where family doctors literally run the hospital, and I will learn to work in the Emergency Room, deliver babies, do cesarean sections, and take care of hospitalized patients and patients in the intensive care unit. And it is an amazing group of really caring, inspiring people that I will be working with. I couldn't be happier.
 
To add to the good news, Mozzi and I have decided to take advantage of this close proximity and live together in Oakland.

Mozzi and I on the beach in San Francisco as we contemplate the move across the Bay

The keys to our new place!
We actually just signed the lease (on my birthday) for a really cozy apartment surrounded by an incredible amount of flowers in the walkway and the backyard. We are both incredibly excited about our new place and this next step in our lives. Less exciting is the reality that I will, for the first time in my life, have to commute to work. Those of you who have known me since high school know that I've always vowed I'd never own a car, preferring to navigate Madison snow and San Francisco traffic on my bike. I'll be buying a car (as a small part of me dies inside) and driving about 30 minutes each way to work. I know this is actually a pretty normal or even short commute by American standards, but it is still taking a lot for me to process and come to terms with it. But I am really happy and excited about all that lies ahead. So many new beginnings!
 

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