I knew, going in to medicine, that there would be holidays that I missed, ones I just couldn't be there for. In the (not quite) 2 years I have had the initials MD after my name, this has been true on more than one
occasion. Here is a brief list:
- Valentine's 2007
- My Anniversary 2006
- New Year's Eve and Day 06-07 and 07-08
- Easter 2007 and 2008
Not to mention some Memorial Days, and a few other minor holidays. However, I have been home for both Thanksgiving Days and Christmas Days the past two years. Honestly, I really can't complain. Being gone is just sort of part and parcel for the job.
However, what really has impacted me is just how amazing my family has been about all of this. Today, again, my children heard their friends talking about their Easter Egg hunt, without being able to talk about their own. But they don't utter a single complaint. Birthday celebrations have had to be adjusted a day or so here and there. Other celebrations have been bumped as Daddy had to go to the hospital.
But they don't seem to care. I'm sure that, at some level, they do care. I am sure it is tough at times. However, they deal with it with amazing grace and poise. They actually seem to see it as exciting that they have
theirs the day after (or before, as the case may be).
Most of us know (
all of us should know) that there will be similar sacrifices. And our families should know this as well. But talking about it is one thing, actually starting residency and living it is another. Now, a few years in to it, I can say that, like having children, no one can tell you what it will be like. Sometimes families struggle with this. And while it hasn't always been easy on us, I am humbled to realize just how supportive my family has been through this all.
They are pretty amazing.
