The Year

I spent December 2007 traveling more than I ever have in the past ten years combined! I've always been a homebody, but I found myself loving those weeks of exploration. Even with the added stress of performing for interviews, at every place I've gone I've been able to connect with a friend, or a friend-of-a-friend, and in one case, a friend-of-a-stranger. I saw so many amusing things (rocking chairs in the Charlotte airport! The ghost of the Lewisburg Inn! The Apollo Theater! The roaring Bellagio fountain through the windows of the Eiffel Tower Restaurant at the Paris casino! The lights blooming around the Great Lakes in the pitch black night, like orchids from space...)
Coulda done without the hassle at the airports though! Can I get an Amen. Seriously, five hour delay at Midway? I ended up eating McDonald's fries for four hours out of boredom. I probably shouldn't have admitted that.

Now it's back to work, of course. More interviews, taxes and loan apps, moving, hiring at work -- all while trying to fit as much dancing in as much as possible. The dancing...I would love to be able to dance without all the drama! But I suppose dancers are naturally all divas. It's impossible to escape. And dealing with difficult people...well, I actually appreciate it. More experience I can employ to deal with the inevitable slew of difficult patients I will encounter.

The passing of one year to another...is completely arbitrary, of course. Nothing is actually impacted by the fact we create this division of time, and then cross it. And yet...I feel I've entered a door and a wholly different person has stepped out. A person with a purpose, with ideals, and with love in her heart to forgive all. Perhaps I will crash and burn in a few months, in a few days. Perhaps this year I will once again be faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. But whatever challenges lay ahead for 2008, at least I can tell myself that that...

...they will never be as difficult as med school!