December 1st

Will here.

I love Christmas - always have. The lights, the cold, the fires in fireplaces, the friends in town, the family visits, the awesome food, the fantastic music... It never gets old for me.

But this year, Christmas means something extra special. Yes, it will be the end of a long and demanding semester, and for that I am grateful. What I'm thinking of, though, is much bigger.

Clare and I will be celebrating our first Christmas as a married couple.

As I write this, the night is passing into morning and plenty of work remains to be done, but I am just overwhelmed by my situation at this very second. Clare and I are married. Still totally blows my mind. We live in a quaint little apartment in the heart of Belhaven. We went and picked out a Christmas tree for our place yesterday and had to ask the folks if they had anything smaller they could show us. It was fantastic! We really are at such a unique junction in our lives together, and I'm just thankful for it - for all its quirks, its bursts of laughter, its understandings that the important things in life don't cost a dime.

When Clare and I were early on in our courtship, we used to lament the fact that there were so many years separating us from where we were then to that ONE DAY when we would, in front of God and everyone, be married. After feeling sorry for ourselves for a little while, we finally realized how much fun we were having just being right where we were. 'Besides,' we said, 'What's six years in the span of sixty?' How true that's been, even with the little time we've had.

But yes, I am amazed and humbled to be at such a spot in my life. Clare, you are wonderful - thank you for agreeing to share your time on this planet with me. That is just too cool.

So, in sum: Med school = finite. Challenges / Obstacles = come and go. Getting to spend the first of many, many Christmas' with the woman you love = just no beating that.

Welcome, December! You are always a sight for sore eyes.

Best to all of you,
Will

PS - Found a neat quote that I think is worth sharing. It's a Serbian proverb: "Be humble for you are made of earth. Be noble for you are made of stars." Just excellent.

Catch Up

At the beginning of August, Will started Medical School. We were very prepared for a difficult ride- and were pleasantly surprised when at first it wasn't really that bad. We still were able to find time to hang out and catch up, as well as finding enough time to study and feel good about school. Well, the past few weeks have become more difficult. His schedule has been more hectic, which translates to less time together, at home, or studying. The stress level has increased and we are both feeling it. Thankfully he now has an off weekend- meaning he doesn't have any major tests next week so we will get a breather. For this, I am thankful.

We both feel like we are on the right track right now, but the time commitment is still daunting at times. He's got a little more than 3 1/2 years of school, then roughly a 5 year residency, then more if he decides on a fellowship etc. We know it will be worth it, but still, that's a lot time, ya know?

Our mantra right now is One Day At A Time. We've been told the first year is the most difficult, and I feel that is mostly because of the adjustment period from undergrad. It's a lot of changes all at once, and the expectations are so high and there is very little 'me' time. Will is doing very, very well with all the changes- but there's only so much one person can do.

For all of these reasons, I am so glad that we decided to go ahead and get married before school started. We dated for 5 1/2 years before we got married, and throughout that time our plans changed a lot. For a while we were thinking of tying the knot after both of our schooling, but now I'm confident that this journey would be so much more difficult without him being right there with me. We are so blessed.

I read a quote the other day that I felt really spoke to me-

Source: imperfectionatbestt.tumblr.com via Clare on Pinterest

Happy Wednesday.

Chronicles of Our Trip

Will and I got back from our trip a few weeks ago and have been adjusting to a new pace of life ever since. Our roadtrip was absolutely amazing, and not a day goes by that I don't think about it. It was peaceful, relaxing, invigorating, and I'm so glad we decided to do it before med school.

Now that school has started for Will, our schedules have changed a lot. Will is up much later, and wakes up earlier. When he is at home he's normally studying so it's pretty quiet at our home lately. The other big change is Gross Anatomy Lab. Gross is an understatement. Will is in lab for a few hours each day and let me tell you- the smell! The students wear scrubs and a lab coat while in lab, so even though Will leaves his lab coat at school, we still have to wash his clothes every day! He's been in school a few weeks now, and although it's been difficult at times, we feel like we are in the right place right now. There is a great group for medical school wives at UMC that I've joined. They have meetings all throughout the year and parties and all sorts of stuff I'm looking forward to! I also switched jobs a few weeks ago. It was one of the hardest decisions I've made yet, and definitely the hardest Will and I have made as a couple. But when looking at all the circumstances, it was a much needed switch. We are learning to trust right now.

I wanted to do some posts of our trip with some pictures. We took roughly 2,000 pictures total, so I can't post nearly all of them- but I wanted to post a few highlights. I'll break the posts up by location.

Here are a few sneak peeks!!

Brevard, NC at Nanny and BobBob's cabin.

On the road after many LONG hours. We quickly resorted to self portraits as entertainment.

Made it to our first big destination! 27 hours of driving and 6 hours of sleep in 2 days!

The big G.C.

Our first fruit stand in CA.

Lombard Street, San Fran.

Yosemite!

Vernal Falls, Yosemite

King's Canyon/ Sequoia Natl Park

Moro Rock, King's Canyon/ Sequoia Natl Park