One year
Studying for the boards and snoozing. Soaking up these precious together moments.
As you may or may not know, Paul and I are both actively in medical training. Training is tricky. In medicine you are often entered into algorithms and treated as a number - not as a person with commitments, passion and interests outside of the hospital. You are right, I am talking bout the match. Close to two years ago, we heard that Paul matched at an excellent cardiac anesthesia program. This awesome, top notch program, was not in the same city as our home, posing a bit of a logistical challenge.
Despite the logistical challenge, we celebrated this awesome match and marched forward to seize the opportunity. We also decided that we were not going to put our life on hold. Life is simply too short. Nine months later, we welcomed home our first born son. That beautiful bundle allowed us to momentarily forget the distance that was looming in our future.
July came, and my husband was packing up his things to move away for the year. Drew and I wished we could join them, but in the interest of avoiding a lengthily leave of absence from graduate school, and working to hold down our little fort in Pittsburgh - our newborn and I stayed home to snuggle at all hours of the night.
July 1st was quite the day. I went back to work, Drew started daycare, and Paul started his fellowship in a different city.
The lesson: we are making it, and doing a fine job at that. We value our time together and make the best of it. We have put many miles on respective vehicles this year to journey to one another on the weekends. Our son is a traveling trooper. His laid back attitude has been a blessing from above. We are blessed that Paul's brother is joining him as Cleveland's most eligible bachelor. The men, including our dog Dale, are back to living as dudes and enjoying toilette seats that remain propped up, microwave dinners, turkey sandwiches, and the occasional stout on a Friday night.
They say, you are not given what you cannot handle. This year has surely been proof for us. Let the countdown to resting under the same roof begin. At the same time, I wish time would SLOW down. My child is growing - too fast, too fast.
Slow down time, please, and thank you.