Invitations

Sometimes they come by mail, other times they come verbally, but however they come, I love them. A couple of weeks ago we received an invitation to stay at Pronghorn near Bend, OR. We gladly accepted the offer and headed down to Bend with David's boss for a few days of relaxation and fun in the snow. I could have quite possibly stay bundled up in the king size bed with fluffy blankets, a good book and a warm fire in the fireplace, but we did venture out.

We did a little snowshoeing, played in the snow, ate some good food and hung out.

Before we headed out snowshoeing, David asked if I wanted warmer gloves. I quickly replied, "Why would I need warmer gloves, I don't plan on falling." Literally a minute later I tried to run in the snowshoes, tripped and fell down. Then I tried to race David in the snowshoes, big mistake. He has longer legs and can lift them a little higher than me. I found myself on the ground again.

A Spring Chicken

Every Sunday I drive this 80 year old woman to church. And every Sunday she has tidbits of information to share with me.

Today's lesson:

People ages 16-65 are Spring Chickens.
People ages 65-90 are Recycled Teenagers.
People over 90 are in a 2nd Childhood.

I guess I have 35 more years of being a spring chicken. Whew!

Dreams do come true

David has been interviewing for another fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine. Being David, he set his sights high. He selected only three programs to apply that are top in the field of medicine: Children's Hospital of Boston (Harvard), Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Lucille Packard Children's Hospital (Stanford). I think all scholastic individuals dream of getting an education at Harvard, Yale, Stanford or some other prestigious school. Some don't have the means to fork over for this type of education or the pedigree to allow, but connections with a reputable person that can vouch for your character and ability can make a world of difference.

David's program director here in Portland trained and/or worked at Harvard and Stanford, so she had the connections and she is incredible for putting her neck on the line for David and trying to make every opportunity possible for him because he rocks and he deserves it. She called, she emailed and she wrote a letter of recommendation for David to each of these programs. David previously did rotations through Boston's and Stanford's Cardiac ICU's. These opportunties increased his connections as he worked side by side with the physicians and fellows, allowing them to see his work ethic, his understanding of cardiac physiology and medicine, as well as his ability to communicate with both the medical staff and the families.

Now, I am not saying it's all completely about the connections since you have to pull your own weight, but generally these programs pull from the top schools and since David had fairly humble educational beginnings and was applying so late in the application process, he was a bit of the controversial applicant. Remember, David likes to stir the pot :).

This is a bragging post, but David just found out that he matched at Children's Hospital Boston. It is a complete honor for him and super exciting that he will be training at one of the best, if not the best, program in the country. I am sooooo proud of him and all of his hard work. He truly deserves this. He is an incredible physician.

So Boston, here we come!