Here we are, beginning our fourth year of medical school. It's gone by so quickly, and yet I feel like we've been here forever. It's been the best and hardest thing we've ever done! And fourth year promises to be no exception.
I wanted to start writing on this blog again, mostly as a way to document this year of change and adventure for our family, but also to provide encouragement for any other families who have any desire to do what we are doing, and don't think it's possible. I have to be honest, I have wondered myself if it's possible, but I intend to use this blog as a way to document how we made it work.
So what are we doing? Two days from now, we'll leave our home in Sunny Arizona and start the first leg of a journey that will ultimately take about 7 months. Because of the nature of medical school, and applying for residencies, fourth year is a time that requires a lot of travel. Logistically, it doesn't make sense to travel as a family, but our biggest priority has been to stay together for these months, so we are figuring out how to make that work! I think it will be both an enormous challenge and an exciting adventure at the same time!
The last several weeks and months have been filled with multiple preparations, setbacks, and blessings, as I have made lists and more lists of what we will need to have organized, and how we can be prepared for the rest of this fun and crazy year! I'll go into detail in coming weeks about all of those preparations, how we did them, and how effective they ended up being.
My plan is to document three times each week under the following themes:
1. Logistics: How we make it work
2. Where we are and what we're doing this week!
and
3. Challenges and Blessings of the week
Our first stop is Washington, where we will be staying with my parents for 7 weeks while Otto takes two sets of board exams and completes his rural rotation requirement (technically from 3rd year.) We leave in 48 hours, immediately following Otto's practice board exam, which he must pass for the school to allow him to take his actual boards. I feel a little bit like we are diving headlong into unknown waters, but then I am beginning to get used to that feeling, and I am so grateful, that no matter what happens or where we are going, I know we are going there together.
Wish us luck! Here we go....
