Well, we just got back from our vacation and the marathon. It was a great trip, and I'm sure one of us will write about it soon, but there have been a few really irritating things that I just wanted to vent about. As you may know, Emily and I are moving to Nashville soon, and we're actively looking to rent a house. I'm also trying to buy a car, for which I will need a loan. Let's see how the three of those adventures are going.
The Loan: I called the bank several months ago to ask about the process, and I was told to apply for a loan about a month before I needed it. Following these instructions, I applied online and was approved with a great rate pretty quickly. The e-mail notice said that I'd be contacted within 24 hours to finalize everything. Well, two days passed, so I called the bank. The lady told me that it was guaranteed that they'd call within 48 hours, but she gave me the direct line for the loan department. I waited on hold for over 30 minutes when I was suddenly disconnected. I figured, it's late, they'll call soon enough, and I have plenty of time. Well, that was a week ago. I called yesterday and was led to the same number. The same thing happened after another 30 minute wait. I noticed I could go straight to a mailbox to request a callback so I didn't have to wait, but when I did that, it told me the message box was full. When I called back, the operator told me that there was only one number to contact the loan department, and she couldn't help me. She told me to call back on Monday, which is tough, because I'd likely have the same problem, and I'm supposed the buy the car on Tuesday. When I asked to speak to her manager, she told me he wouldn't have any other answers. That's when I told her that I likely would find answers at a different bank, and promptly hung up.
The Car: I've been researching a car to buy for years. My old car used to joke that it was about to die, then trick me into keeping it for another year or so. Well, I've been patiently waiting without a vehicle for the last few months, meanwhile saving up plenty of money for a good downpayment. I contacted a dealership of a friend, who told me that the car I wanted was unavailable because the hybrid engines were made in Japan, which recently suffered from a Tsunami. He suggested I try a bigger dealership because they'd have a bigger inventory to trade for the car. I did this, and was told it wouldn't be a problem. I was e-mailed a possible car choice almost immediately, and I said I'd take it unless a better color option became available. I didn't hear anything for almost a week, so I called back again. This time, I was given two new options, both in colors I liked better. I told him which car I wanted within a couple hours. I didn't hear back for 3 days. When I called again, he said, "Oh yeah, I was just about to call you." He took down my credit card information to make a downpayment so the car could be shipped, never indicating that there was a problem. A week passes and I don't hear anything else, and there's no deduction from my account. I called yesterday, and he told me again that he was just about to call me. Then he told me he thought the other car was already sold and the dealership wouldn't return his calls. Now, it's three days before I'm supposed to go pick up the car, and he states that multiple dealerships are not returning his calls. He said, "I've been doing this for six years, and I've never had this much difficulty getting a car." I don't know, do people not want to do business with me?
The home: The final piece to the puzzle is the most stressful, but the least crazy story. Apparently, nobody in Nashville wants to rent a house to people with dogs, especially our "large" dogs. We've found plenty of places, but once we mention the dogs, the interest in us dissolves. we thought we had a place recently, but it ended up falling through. At the end of last week, another place opened up. It has a big fenced backyard, which was a huge criteria for us, as our pups like to run around. The downside is that it's in Franklin, which would mean I'd have to drive in rush hour traffic to get to work, but I've been willing to make that sacrifice if we can find a place that has a fenced yard. We submitted our application the first day it went on the market after our friend, Mary, went to take a look at it. We also had to submit a $75 application fee, which I was really hesitant to do since I was skeptical we'd get a fair consideration due to the dogs. Well, as has been the routine, we didn't hear back from them for two days. Today, right after getting home from the vacation and after dealing with the car stresses, I contacted our realtor, who's been fantastic, to see if the lady had replied. He told me that she informed him that she'd already spoken with me and would have a decision on Monday. Of course, I've had no such communication with anyone.
At this point I'm feeling like the universe is playing a huge joke on me. Am I on some ridiculous TV show or something? Am I being Punk'd? I'm not sure what I did to have incompetent people deal with me on three very important issues that are going on right now. I'm flying to Nashville in three days to buy a car that's not there, with a loan that's not finalized, so I can look at houses that some phantom Drew is speaking to real estate agents about. What can I do about it? Nothing, because it's the freakin' weekend and nothing gets done on the weekend. So, I'm sitting here at home, trying to enjoy being unemployed for the month, in a temporary one month house after being unceremoniously booted from our previous home. We have no cable, we have no internet (this is all being typed on 3G via the phone and iPad), and I'm about to blow a lid. So I apologize for using this blog to vent, but I'm tired of complaining to everyone else around me, and I hope typing this out will be enough of a release. We'll find out on Monday, I guess. For now, I'm off to stew a little.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Be kind to strangers
This morning I had a profound experience while traveling to Portland. It's going to sound like one of those e-mails that you get, telling some sappy story before asking you to forward it to ten of your friends. I typically delete those e-mails on sight, no matter who sends them to me. However, this story has affected me, so I'd like to share it.
I won't go into all of the details, but suffice it to say that Emily and I were running late. There was more that a little bit of stress in the air as we were waiting in the check bag line about fifty minutes before our flight. The man behind the desk had just opened up a second line, but we were already past the dividing rope. These moments always frustrate me, as the people in the back of the line end up filling up that line before the people further up can move over. I was then tapped on the shoulder, and a very kind, elderly, but heavily accented voice said, "Sir, would you please go ahead in front of me." I'm not sure what it was, maybe it was the gentleness of his voice, but these simple words affected me so that I couldn't put them out of my head. As we walked off toward security, I thanked him and wished him a good day. I noticed he was carrying one of those military backpacks that we see too often at the airport these days. I almost decided to thank him for his or his child's service, but I decided to keep walking.
As we were boarding our flight, I saw him again. He was being questioned by a security guard about his ID. I was close enough to hear that they were asking to see his passport, and whether it was a language or cultural barrier, the old man wasn't understanding. Several people around me were looking at him with questioning stares, and I couldn't help but say, "I hope he is able to get on... he's such a nice man." I said this loud enough that the people immediately surrounding me wouldn't think to badly of the little man who was starting to get a little frustrated with the misunderstanding with the security guard.
Right before we pulled away from the gate, he walked onto the plane as the last passenger. I smiled a little as he walked down the aisle. The sorority girl who was sitting in front of me, who had slightly annoyed me, due to a ridiculous conversation she was having, politely asked him if he'd been able to find his passport. I'm not sure why he proceeded to tell this story, but after he confirmed that his passport was located, he told us the reason for his trip. His son had been in the army and had fought in one of the wars. After coming home he had not adjusted well, and he had taken his own life with a gun. He had flown into the country for the funeral, which was yesterday. The passengers around us all looked stunned as he slowly made his way past us to find his seat. I looked over to Emily who already had tears streaming down her cheeks to match the ones that were welling up in my own eyes.
It's odd when a set of random events with a stranger touch your heart like this man's story did mine, but I'm very thankful that I had this encounter. Despite all of the pain he was going through, he still found the kindness to be polite to us, and he did it so graciously that it made us take notice of him. I'll never see him again, but I think I'll forever be influenced by out interactions. Perhaps I'll be a little less irritated with the sorority girls chatting loud enough for the entire plane to hear, or I'll let a hurried couple past me when I'm obviously in a hurry myself. My thoughts and prayers go out to the old man, and I hope the many pains of traveling elude him for his long journey home.
I won't go into all of the details, but suffice it to say that Emily and I were running late. There was more that a little bit of stress in the air as we were waiting in the check bag line about fifty minutes before our flight. The man behind the desk had just opened up a second line, but we were already past the dividing rope. These moments always frustrate me, as the people in the back of the line end up filling up that line before the people further up can move over. I was then tapped on the shoulder, and a very kind, elderly, but heavily accented voice said, "Sir, would you please go ahead in front of me." I'm not sure what it was, maybe it was the gentleness of his voice, but these simple words affected me so that I couldn't put them out of my head. As we walked off toward security, I thanked him and wished him a good day. I noticed he was carrying one of those military backpacks that we see too often at the airport these days. I almost decided to thank him for his or his child's service, but I decided to keep walking.
As we were boarding our flight, I saw him again. He was being questioned by a security guard about his ID. I was close enough to hear that they were asking to see his passport, and whether it was a language or cultural barrier, the old man wasn't understanding. Several people around me were looking at him with questioning stares, and I couldn't help but say, "I hope he is able to get on... he's such a nice man." I said this loud enough that the people immediately surrounding me wouldn't think to badly of the little man who was starting to get a little frustrated with the misunderstanding with the security guard.
Right before we pulled away from the gate, he walked onto the plane as the last passenger. I smiled a little as he walked down the aisle. The sorority girl who was sitting in front of me, who had slightly annoyed me, due to a ridiculous conversation she was having, politely asked him if he'd been able to find his passport. I'm not sure why he proceeded to tell this story, but after he confirmed that his passport was located, he told us the reason for his trip. His son had been in the army and had fought in one of the wars. After coming home he had not adjusted well, and he had taken his own life with a gun. He had flown into the country for the funeral, which was yesterday. The passengers around us all looked stunned as he slowly made his way past us to find his seat. I looked over to Emily who already had tears streaming down her cheeks to match the ones that were welling up in my own eyes.
It's odd when a set of random events with a stranger touch your heart like this man's story did mine, but I'm very thankful that I had this encounter. Despite all of the pain he was going through, he still found the kindness to be polite to us, and he did it so graciously that it made us take notice of him. I'll never see him again, but I think I'll forever be influenced by out interactions. Perhaps I'll be a little less irritated with the sorority girls chatting loud enough for the entire plane to hear, or I'll let a hurried couple past me when I'm obviously in a hurry myself. My thoughts and prayers go out to the old man, and I hope the many pains of traveling elude him for his long journey home.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Even More Things to Come
If that last post wasn't enough craziness for our family, this next one might do us in. It's difficult to imagine a busier month than the last one, but we have one coming up. First things first, however, I only have three more days of residency! I have clinic today, then two nights in the emergency department. And then... I'm unemployed. Only for a month, however, as I start working at Brentwood Pediatrics at the beginning of August. I can't wait to get started and begin forming new relationships with my coworkers and patients. It's going to be scary at times, but I'm confident in the training I've received thus far.
Once I finish my last ED shift, then I'm off for a couple days to collect my thoughts. Then we're off to Portland for the marathon on July 4th. The training has been going alright, although I'm not going to be able to meet the time goal I set for myself at the beginning. Reflecting on the training experience, I don't think I'll choose to train for a 26 mile race in the desert during the summer again. Seriously, running 20 miles on a Sunday morning is brutal, and that's not even factoring in that I had to start at 5am so it wasn't 100 degrees before I finished. While I had an initial time goal, I'm just happy to have completed the training without giving up. That leads me to my next lesson learned: it's tough to train for a marathon by yourself. Emily's never claimed to enjoy running, and I've been doing all of this training for the last six months solo. In total, I've run over 500 miles with nothing but my thoughts and some Mumford & Sons to keep me trucking along. At first, it was nice to have some time to think, but on the 16th mile of a 20 mile day at over 90 degrees, I'm ready to have someone running alongside me tell me to keep going. Portland is going to be a great place to run, compared to here. The weather forecast has a high in the low to mid 70s, and I'm sure my pace will reflect that a little.
After the race is complete, we're going to have dinner with David, Emily's cousin, then drive up to her old stomping grounds in Seattle. Well, we're first going to take a brief trip up to the San Juan Islands and go orca watching. Emily took me there for our first Valentine's Day when we first started dating, but there weren't any whales. Here's to hoping we actually see them this time, but if not, the islands are beautiful and very relaxing. We're then going to spend a few days in Seattle hanging out with our friends, Matt and Kelly. I'm sure Emily will have some spots she'll want to visit, and a few restaurants to experience one more time.
After we get back from Seattle, I have a day or two in Tucson, then I'm off to Nashville to find a home. We'll be renting a house for the first year at least, as the prospects of selling the condo in Nashville are pretty bleak at this time, and it's too small for us. Emily's not coming with me on this trip and is trusting me to pick out a house for our little family. It's a little intimidating, but at least I'll have help. Emily's mom, her dad, my parents, and Mary Payne have all offered to go with me on the hunt, and I'm sure they won't let me pick something that Emily would not like. I only have three days to find a house though, so if anyone knows of a rental house in Nashville that has a fenced backyard for dogs, please let us know. Luckily, our realtor, Tim, has sent out an ad to potential home renters in the area. I won't share it here, but it's pretty ridiculously awesome. While I'm in Nashville, I'll likely be buying a car. My old Impala was sold several months ago, and we've been managing on a single car for awhile. I live pretty close to the hospital, so walking isn't awful, but I'll be glad to finally have my own transportation again.
Upon returning from Nashville, we have a few days off before we head to Lisa's wedding in Orange County. I can't wait to see some of our college friends again, and it's going to be a great way to say goodbye to the West. Dan and Mary will be riding back with us to Tucson, and they're going to help us move back across the country. We shouldn't have too much packing to do, as about 90% of it is already in storage, so that will hopefully be as pain free as packing in 110 degree weather can be. First, we're heading up to the Grand Canyon and spending a night in Flagstaff. Then we're heading east with stops in Amarillo and Little Rock before celebrating our reentrance to Tennessee with some Rendezvous ribs on the banks of the Mississippi.
By the way, if all of those things weren't enough, I'm going to be studying for my boards and Emily's going to be helping to make sure Make Way for Books will keep running without her. We both have a lot on our plates, but I'm confident that the two of us can do anything together.
Once I finish my last ED shift, then I'm off for a couple days to collect my thoughts. Then we're off to Portland for the marathon on July 4th. The training has been going alright, although I'm not going to be able to meet the time goal I set for myself at the beginning. Reflecting on the training experience, I don't think I'll choose to train for a 26 mile race in the desert during the summer again. Seriously, running 20 miles on a Sunday morning is brutal, and that's not even factoring in that I had to start at 5am so it wasn't 100 degrees before I finished. While I had an initial time goal, I'm just happy to have completed the training without giving up. That leads me to my next lesson learned: it's tough to train for a marathon by yourself. Emily's never claimed to enjoy running, and I've been doing all of this training for the last six months solo. In total, I've run over 500 miles with nothing but my thoughts and some Mumford & Sons to keep me trucking along. At first, it was nice to have some time to think, but on the 16th mile of a 20 mile day at over 90 degrees, I'm ready to have someone running alongside me tell me to keep going. Portland is going to be a great place to run, compared to here. The weather forecast has a high in the low to mid 70s, and I'm sure my pace will reflect that a little.
After the race is complete, we're going to have dinner with David, Emily's cousin, then drive up to her old stomping grounds in Seattle. Well, we're first going to take a brief trip up to the San Juan Islands and go orca watching. Emily took me there for our first Valentine's Day when we first started dating, but there weren't any whales. Here's to hoping we actually see them this time, but if not, the islands are beautiful and very relaxing. We're then going to spend a few days in Seattle hanging out with our friends, Matt and Kelly. I'm sure Emily will have some spots she'll want to visit, and a few restaurants to experience one more time.
After we get back from Seattle, I have a day or two in Tucson, then I'm off to Nashville to find a home. We'll be renting a house for the first year at least, as the prospects of selling the condo in Nashville are pretty bleak at this time, and it's too small for us. Emily's not coming with me on this trip and is trusting me to pick out a house for our little family. It's a little intimidating, but at least I'll have help. Emily's mom, her dad, my parents, and Mary Payne have all offered to go with me on the hunt, and I'm sure they won't let me pick something that Emily would not like. I only have three days to find a house though, so if anyone knows of a rental house in Nashville that has a fenced backyard for dogs, please let us know. Luckily, our realtor, Tim, has sent out an ad to potential home renters in the area. I won't share it here, but it's pretty ridiculously awesome. While I'm in Nashville, I'll likely be buying a car. My old Impala was sold several months ago, and we've been managing on a single car for awhile. I live pretty close to the hospital, so walking isn't awful, but I'll be glad to finally have my own transportation again.
Upon returning from Nashville, we have a few days off before we head to Lisa's wedding in Orange County. I can't wait to see some of our college friends again, and it's going to be a great way to say goodbye to the West. Dan and Mary will be riding back with us to Tucson, and they're going to help us move back across the country. We shouldn't have too much packing to do, as about 90% of it is already in storage, so that will hopefully be as pain free as packing in 110 degree weather can be. First, we're heading up to the Grand Canyon and spending a night in Flagstaff. Then we're heading east with stops in Amarillo and Little Rock before celebrating our reentrance to Tennessee with some Rendezvous ribs on the banks of the Mississippi.
By the way, if all of those things weren't enough, I'm going to be studying for my boards and Emily's going to be helping to make sure Make Way for Books will keep running without her. We both have a lot on our plates, but I'm confident that the two of us can do anything together.
A Busy Month
This last month has been insane. If I haven't mentioned it before, the owners of our house had been trying to sell it, off and on, for the last two years. In our opinion they were charging way too much for it, but that left a little security for us, since we figured we wouldn't have to move if it didn't sell. It's been a royal pain having to vacate the house with the dogs every time somebody came by to look at it. We figured they wouldn't appreciate two 50lbs dogs jumping on them without their owners present. Unfortunately, the house finally sold... one month before we were supposed to move back to Tennessee. We were told at the end of May that we'd need to be out within 30 days. Normally, we would have been able to do it, but I've been working nights in the emergency department this month. There were very few times when both Emily and I were home, which didn't help for coordinated packing. To add to that, my graduation came a couple weeks ago, coupled with a visit from my parents. We loved having them here and had a great visit, but it came during one of our few weekends off before the move. Last week I worked four nights in a row from 6pm to 3am, followed by waking up at around 8am and packing all day, only to repeat again the next day. Luckily, Ruth came into town to help pack and keep us on track. Abby also helped out a bit on moving day. Honestly, the move would have been a TON worse without them, and we thank you both tremendously!
One thing I didn't mention above was the drama over where we'd be moving. Finding a rental house for only one month that will accommodate two moderate sized dogs isn't the easiest thing in the world. We found several fully furnished places that were 400-700 sq ft, but that would have been quite cramped with two people and two dogs, especially when one of them is a boxer with no sense of his size or surroundings. Luckily, an attending of mine had a rental house available, and we locked in our living arrangements for this month about two weeks ago. It has a pretty big back yard for the pups to run around in, although I think Annabelle figures she's broken free for the first few seconds every time I let her out. The move this past weekend was brutal, as it came during the last of those four days in a row I mentioned earlier, but we made it. It was quite emotional leaving our old house, and I broke down a couple times. I think it had to do with the way we were leaving our first home and the fact that we were only moving on to a temporary arrangement. We truly loved that old house, and I will definitely miss the neighborhood.
Should I add any more to the last month? Oh yeah, I became an uncle! Jenny finally had her baby, Myers Anderson Frank. It's very surreal with Jenny in mommy-mode, but our family couldn't be happier. I'm not going to meet the little guy until August, most likely, but I've gotten to spend a few video chats staring at him and talking to Jenny. I couldn't be prouder, and I know my parents are over the moon about the whole thing. That's it for last month, next stop, an even busier month ahead...
One thing I didn't mention above was the drama over where we'd be moving. Finding a rental house for only one month that will accommodate two moderate sized dogs isn't the easiest thing in the world. We found several fully furnished places that were 400-700 sq ft, but that would have been quite cramped with two people and two dogs, especially when one of them is a boxer with no sense of his size or surroundings. Luckily, an attending of mine had a rental house available, and we locked in our living arrangements for this month about two weeks ago. It has a pretty big back yard for the pups to run around in, although I think Annabelle figures she's broken free for the first few seconds every time I let her out. The move this past weekend was brutal, as it came during the last of those four days in a row I mentioned earlier, but we made it. It was quite emotional leaving our old house, and I broke down a couple times. I think it had to do with the way we were leaving our first home and the fact that we were only moving on to a temporary arrangement. We truly loved that old house, and I will definitely miss the neighborhood.
Should I add any more to the last month? Oh yeah, I became an uncle! Jenny finally had her baby, Myers Anderson Frank. It's very surreal with Jenny in mommy-mode, but our family couldn't be happier. I'm not going to meet the little guy until August, most likely, but I've gotten to spend a few video chats staring at him and talking to Jenny. I couldn't be prouder, and I know my parents are over the moon about the whole thing. That's it for last month, next stop, an even busier month ahead...
Saturday, April 16, 2011
New Job!
I just realized we hadn't blogged since our Rwanda trip. Part of the reason for that is that I felt I was unable to officially talk about the things that were going down. I'd been on the job hunt even before going to Rwanda, and I'd even had an interview at couple amazing practices in Lebanon. Unfortunately, Emily and I wanted to be closer to Nashville, so wanted to interview at a couple other places before making that decision. That first interview had been set up within a week of me starting the search, so I figured I'd find other job opportunities fairly easily. I was wrong. Apparently, Nashville's a pretty desirable place to be a pediatrician. I also hadn't counted on the difficulty of getting a job in a city that already had a pediatric residency, where the practices already knew the residents. Almost every phone call I made either ended with them saying that they weren't hiring or that they'd already hired someone from Vanderbilt. I felt a little cheated, since I'd lived in the Nashville area longer than many of the people from Vanderbilt, but that's the nature of the game.
Anyway, through the next several months I heard of a couple positions, and even had two interviews set up, but they were canceled one week before I flew back. It was the end of January, and while my other fellow residents were already starting to look for houses, I was still trying to get an interview. My aunt Pat was extremely helpful, and she gave me a huge list of contacts to call, but one by one each of the practices told me that they didn't have a spot for me. I was starting to enter panic mode, and I was regretting my decision to turn down the Lebanon job. It was looking like I was going to have to work in an urgent care center for the first year while I got my name out into the Nashville pediatric community.
My dad had sent me a list of places where Vandy medical students rotate, and as a last ditch effort I decided to call each and every one of the practices. I spent the afternoon calling over twenty locations, and each name slowly was crossed off. There ended up being about four places who said they weren't hiring, but they wanted me to send them my CV, just in case. A few days later, I was contacted by an office manager in Brentwood who stated that they were thinking of expanding. This was it... I finally had an interview! I threw together a hasty trip back to Tennessee, and during the next week I found two other places to interview. Where were these places while I had spent the last few months in panic mode?
Anyway, over the course of the next few weeks I had a phone interview, followed by an in-person interview with the folks at Brentwood Pediatrics. The phone interview was in the car as Emily and I drove up to the mall for a day of shopping. I told Emily as soon as I hung up that I hoped this one worked out, because it sounded exactly like what I was looking for. After a seemingly endless amount of phone calls and contract discussion, I've finally signed on to join them! The practice has been around about 5 years and was started by a pediatrician who left a much larger group to start her own office. They seem like they are very focused on treating the office workers and their families like one giant extended family, and I'm sure Emily and I are going to fit right in.
I honestly couldn't be happier, and I'm so excited to get started. One of my favorite parts about being a pediatrician is getting to know young families and watching their children grow up through the years. I've only been in Tucson for a short amount of time, but I already have a group of almost 3 year-olds who I've known since they first came home from the hospital nursery. I'm very sad to be leaving these kids and their parents, but at the same time, I can't wait to start a whole new round of introductions in Nashville, where this time the patients will actually be my own.
Anyway, that's a little idea of what's been going through my head the past few months. It's been extremely stressful, and I'm very lucky to have a loving wife who stood behind me and never lost faith. I've been at the brink of a breakdown several times, and she always helped me to keep my head up and keep looking. As a result, in just a few months Emily and I will be moving back to Nashville, closer to both of our families and countless friends we've dearly missed over the past two years. I love the city of Tucson and the University of Arizona, but I don't think I've ever not thought of Nashville as home. Now we are getting to the "fun" part of looking for houses and planning our move back. Hopefully, now that it's official, we can keep this blog a little more updated.
Anyway, through the next several months I heard of a couple positions, and even had two interviews set up, but they were canceled one week before I flew back. It was the end of January, and while my other fellow residents were already starting to look for houses, I was still trying to get an interview. My aunt Pat was extremely helpful, and she gave me a huge list of contacts to call, but one by one each of the practices told me that they didn't have a spot for me. I was starting to enter panic mode, and I was regretting my decision to turn down the Lebanon job. It was looking like I was going to have to work in an urgent care center for the first year while I got my name out into the Nashville pediatric community.
My dad had sent me a list of places where Vandy medical students rotate, and as a last ditch effort I decided to call each and every one of the practices. I spent the afternoon calling over twenty locations, and each name slowly was crossed off. There ended up being about four places who said they weren't hiring, but they wanted me to send them my CV, just in case. A few days later, I was contacted by an office manager in Brentwood who stated that they were thinking of expanding. This was it... I finally had an interview! I threw together a hasty trip back to Tennessee, and during the next week I found two other places to interview. Where were these places while I had spent the last few months in panic mode?
Anyway, over the course of the next few weeks I had a phone interview, followed by an in-person interview with the folks at Brentwood Pediatrics. The phone interview was in the car as Emily and I drove up to the mall for a day of shopping. I told Emily as soon as I hung up that I hoped this one worked out, because it sounded exactly like what I was looking for. After a seemingly endless amount of phone calls and contract discussion, I've finally signed on to join them! The practice has been around about 5 years and was started by a pediatrician who left a much larger group to start her own office. They seem like they are very focused on treating the office workers and their families like one giant extended family, and I'm sure Emily and I are going to fit right in.
I honestly couldn't be happier, and I'm so excited to get started. One of my favorite parts about being a pediatrician is getting to know young families and watching their children grow up through the years. I've only been in Tucson for a short amount of time, but I already have a group of almost 3 year-olds who I've known since they first came home from the hospital nursery. I'm very sad to be leaving these kids and their parents, but at the same time, I can't wait to start a whole new round of introductions in Nashville, where this time the patients will actually be my own.
Anyway, that's a little idea of what's been going through my head the past few months. It's been extremely stressful, and I'm very lucky to have a loving wife who stood behind me and never lost faith. I've been at the brink of a breakdown several times, and she always helped me to keep my head up and keep looking. As a result, in just a few months Emily and I will be moving back to Nashville, closer to both of our families and countless friends we've dearly missed over the past two years. I love the city of Tucson and the University of Arizona, but I don't think I've ever not thought of Nashville as home. Now we are getting to the "fun" part of looking for houses and planning our move back. Hopefully, now that it's official, we can keep this blog a little more updated.
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