A Change

This is my last week as an official medical student "drop out." I'm dropping back in on July 5th. I'm excited. Anna comes home from the ICU and dazzles me with stories from the life in health care, constantly reigniting my desire to get back in the game.

Just for the sake of a personal accounting of my last year I want to catalog some of the fun I had, some of the things I did:

-Hikes with Anna all over Southern Arizona
-Campouts until 9 pm
-Pick up the guitar and learn the classical approach
-Play the piano any time I passed one
-Serve as a boy scout leader
-Play basketball
-Compete in road bike races
-Run a road race
-Work as a substitute teacher (One of the most fun things I did)
-Work with Jennifer as a punch boy in Mesa again
-Visit family in Thatcher, Lake Powell, and Salt Lake
-Read, read, and read (I'm a new fan of Newberry books)
-Publish in a radiology journal
-Eat good Anna dinner without having to pick up a medical book to study soon after
-Sunday walks with Anna
-Sleep in when Anna had days off (I feel guilty typing this)
-Write thoughts, figure out what I like to write
-Make sling shots and give them away to missionaries in the Tucson mission
-Go on exchanges with the Elders
-Go to Bookman's often
-Watch movies with Anna
-Drop off my brother at the MTC before he headed out to Cusco, Peru (a great highlight)
-Play tennis (watch out Rich!)
-Listen to NPR and Dan Patrick radio on many a morning (these two shows have a way of canceling out the flow of information in my head)
-Journal
-Look up family history
-Call family more often
-Learn about trees (there seemed to be a calming influence as I finally learned about these standing neighbors I pass everyday)

And there was more to bore. Oh! And I got to watch March Madness and the NBA Finals uninterrupted by study or hospital work. But trust me, I'm excited to join the human race again in the normal way of life.

But how normal it will be you can decide. Come back and check out the adventures of a fourth year medical student, which begin July 5th. My first clerkship (5 week assignment) is in psychiatry.