Dreams Really Can Come True

This is me at age 4.

Approximately.

This is also the age where if you were to ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up?

I'd answer fiercely, a Doctor. 

And I've been answering that question the same way for 20 years. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the process of becoming a doctor, I'll tell you that it is tough, really tough. You must have a bachelors degree that includes a big list of prerequisite courses and most likely you have to be in the top of your class. High GPA made even better with honors recognition, high MCAT scores, emphasis on community involvement, leadership, volunteer work, clinical hours, clubs, research.... I think you get the point. 

Then there's the application process. A primary application that gets sent to all the schools you are interested in that includes every detail you can possibly put on about why you will be an outstanding physician, what you've done to prove yourself and what sets you apart from the thousands of other students in your position. Secondary applications from specific schools if they're interested in you about why their school, their programs, their missions, what you'll bring to the school and how they know to invest their time and education in you. It seems easy, you talk about yourself, what makes you who you are but the tough part is the doubt about whether it's enough, whether they'll pick you over someone else. Not to mention the financial burden that comes along with application fees and such.

And if they do pick you at this stage you're still not in the clear. It's now on to the interviews. Flying around the country, dressed to your finest, hoping that the person you are in the flesh coincides with the person they have on paper and that they will see you as an attribute to their school, that they will pick you once again and give you a seat in the much-too-small class size from a pool of more than qualified applicants. 

Now if you'll remember, our trip home for the holidays and the wedding was extended slightly for me while J took the burden of driving back to SD alone as I was given an interview at one of my top schools. The interview was a little over a week ago. 

The stress, the application process, the waiting, the doubt about whether you did enough, the analysis of your interview answers, everything. It is all worth it. Because sometimes life works in mysterious ways and now, sometime within the next 6 months, we are headed back to Colorado and I will start my first year of medical school in the fall. 

On Monday our lives were forever changed. 

And I am left feeling so thankful, so excited, so blessed, so immensely grateful for all the things that have happened in my life within the last month. I honestly feel like I'm in a bit of shock with the realization that in less than 30 days I was married and accepted to medical school. 

2013 is my year. Life sure is good.