Let me bring my vast readership (*taps mic* is anyone out there?) up to speed. Let's start toward the end of 2014.
- Nov 2014: the second Thanksgiving in a row without being with my parents and sister. Bittersweet, but made special by celebrating with my Dad's family in our Mattituck country house. Aaron BUILT a dinner table for the whole gang, which was beautiful, and all of the food...so much food. It was great fun. As is tradition, Avery dropped turkey into Jackson's drink, and there was something else funny about food that we all kept getting tickled about. A year later, I can't remember what it was.
- Dec 2014: The military match happens. I am neutral in my anticipation, and fully expect to do a GMO tour. Or maybe a civilian EM program. The verdict: SAMMC EM. The reaction: so completely overjoyed. Relieved. Did someone get confused? How did I trick them in to letting me in?
- Jan 2015: I think I worked over Christmas, but I was able to take the 2 weeks I had reserved for interviews in January and went home. It was fantastic. When we got back, I took Aaron on his first ever ski trip to the majestic mountains of...Connecticut. We both survived (barely...thank God for helmets) and had a ton of fun. The end of January brought the biggest snow storm either of us have ever seen, with a couple of snow days for both of us (I LOVE SNOW DAYS). The drifts were just about as tall as Aaron, and Emily (the kind neighbor and house caretaker) had to shovel us out with a tractor.
-Feb 2015: Not much excitement that I can remember. Cold and snow, most likely.
-Mar 2015: A visit from Jenn and Dan Houchins! We had fun exploring Sag Harbor and the Dune Road mansions. I can't believe I don't have a picture of all of us! Also, more snow and cold.
-April 2015: Included a super quick trip home for my birthday. Unfortunately, I missed my connection in Dallas and couldn't get any closer than Tulsa. So thankful for Ashley & Jordan and their willingness to come retreive me! Also participated in some shenanigans with my PBMC colleagues.
-May 2015: Such a fun month. First, the Five Borough Bike Tour was AMAZING. Starting in lower Manhattan, we biked up through Central Park, across to the Bronx, back to Manhattan down the FDR, across to Queens and in to Brooklyn. Here we took a break at Joyce & Mike's temporary apartment, which just happened to be along the route. Finally we crossed the mountain that is Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in to Staten Island. I was so incredibly fun and I hope to have the opportunity to do it again soon. At work I spent my last medicine month comiserating with Kirvia and Maria, and with Fatime on surgery we spent many hours together in the "Lush Forest". We also had the chance to catch a Mets vs. Cardinals game at Citi Field.
-June 2015: A few more activities to cross off of the bucket list, including watching American Pharoah make history at the Belmont Stakes. The next day we took a tour of Plymouth Church, stopped at some other historic sites in Brooklyn Heights, and circled back to walk the Promenade one more time before leaving New York. There were a lot of tears shed as we drove back to Mattituck that weekend; Joyce and Jeannette and their families had been so welcoming and wonderful to us and I was so sad to be leaving them and such and amazing city. Back in Riverhead some of the residents had a final outing canoeing off of Shelter Island, and then it was over.
As much as PBMC sucked, I made some amazing friends and incredible memories. Texas is wonderful, but I miss our Mattituck farm house, Oregon Road, the quiet Sound beachfront, and the short train ride in to NYC. I hope one day (soon) we have the means to go back and spend some time there.
That's enough for one post. Next post will catch us up to more current events :)
