I watch the ripples change their size / but never leave the stream - David Bowie

Time may change me. But I can't trace time.

Time got funky on me this week. It's the third day of orientation, and I'll try to describe the experience of these first three days the best I can.

M1 Orientation mixes business with pleasure. They've done a great balancing act - really. So, here's a list of things we've had to get done/ have had to learn about before getting the solemn privilege of exposure to a single patient:

• Online HIPAA training and quiz
• Read a chapter about professionalism and the physician's role
• OSHA training lecture (wonderfully informative. I was on the edge of my seat listening to Dr. Amazing Woman talk about blood-borne pathogens, MRSA, and hand-washing frequency. Those of you who know me well know I am not kidding one bit).
• Vaccines: for me MMR, HIB, and a PPD (negative; woo-hoo!). My shoulder hurts.
  

And some other things:

• student ID's
• Lockers
• Parking Permit (wonk wonk; I'm not getting one!)
• Health insurance waiver
• Learning a litany of online platforms for communication with our lecturers, administration, and fellow classmates. Seriously worse than the truffle shuffle. They swear we'll love it in a little while, but at present I just feel like I'm wiggling my belly and sticking out my tongue. BTW, we had to solemnly swear in writing that we absolutely would check these platforms for new info every day. So if I'm not Facebooking or Tweeting, that's why!
  

But, hoping you've stuck with me, here's the great part: This school is AWESOME. The deans - Dr. Schwartz and Dr. Eley - have taken such care to articulate the values of the school. I wish I could tell you the entirety of the ethos they have worked to build at that school, but that's why I'm so impressed with them. They explain in honest, clear detail exactly the types of challenges physicians face, exactly what our mission will be to our patients and communities. I listen to them with an adult mindset, but recognize that they're addressing a group whose average age is 23.4 (and I am a curve-throwing geezer). I LOVE to hear what they have to say. All of it has reinforced that I am in the right place to be learning this career.

Umm...how can I say? Dr. Schwartz set aside his well-timed humor for a few minutes while he explained solemnly that we are not to where clothing that advertises any unhealthy substance or lifestyle. His point was that our opinions will be taken seriously. We will be exposed almost on a daily basis to people whose lives have been severely altered by controlled substances and that it is not only deleterious to their health but also supremely inconsiderate of their struggle to advertise these things. The point: care and respect for the patient. Everything here has a patient-centered outlook.

Dr. Eley went to great lengths to argue for us to set limits and really do the things that, in his words, "make our souls sing." He argues for our balance and stability. He has named the temptations and named the struggles people deal with in medical school and has reiterated many times that we must maintain balance by continuing to do the things we love doing and being with the people we love being with. They give us tons of resources to help us if we falter, and make it clear that many of us will need them. They've created a rigorous program, and then built all sorts of pads and safeties into the system because, historically, they've been necessary.

I am so lucky.

No matter how delighted I am to be there, I am always thinking of what my three compadres are doing a mile away on Myrtle Lane. Are they swimming? Are they doing school? Are they having snack? Is Richie okay? So far, they've had three good days. Tomorrow is a half day for me, then I'm free on Friday. Next week will be "Week on the Wards", an introduction to clinical medicine immersion-style. I'm excited.

Oh, yeah, I've met a bunch of neat med students. Our class has a lot more women than men, plus, I tend to go for female friendships these days. These are some super solid women. I won't name names, because I'm sure I'll miss somebody or meet someone tomorrow who belongs on the list, but all I have to say is, wow. I can't wait to get to know them better.

On every level, Emory's leaders "get it" about being humane to others and to yourself. We are going to work our tails off, but I am proud and excited to have the privilege of working so hard here. Impressed, delighted, hoping I can hang.

I miss so many people!!!! :( But I'm so busy that I can't dwell on it!!!

So so busy!

Today was day one of orientation at Emory School of Medicine. I would love to write and write, but I have so much to do that I can't right now. Also, Richie needs this 'puter. But here are some pictures of our Traverse City trip. We had a wonderful, beautiful week filled with easy going family time and lots of nature. Loved it!

Rainy Night Where?

In Georgia. It is storming to beat the boat right now. This may be an entire-Eastern-Seaboard thing, but I speculate that it just plain storms more here than it does in TWV (Tidewater Virginia). I have missed these storms. Of course, maybe I think it storms more here because when I last lived here I was in high school. The timing is significant because then I was still in what I'll call my Cool Woodnymph phase, where I felt it was my obligation to defy logic and run around in the rain expressing my appreciation for all things Natural. College saw a natural attrition of such poetic extravagances, and now I am loathe to get wet under any circumstance where the water is under, say, 85 degrees Farenheit. Adulthood.

I still think it storms more often here. The storms are impressive and productive and I like them.

It's sinking in that I'm going to medical school. My first assignment has helped it sink in somewhat. I am to read chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and most of 6, 15, and 21 in a book called Molecular Biology of the Cell. So far, I have loved it...but I'm only mostly through Chapter 2, so we'll see. But, so far, this book is more than review; it seems to see things from a perspective that has always really excited me. The authors have taken care at every step to generate an image of exactly what cellular processes LOOK like. They give careful attention to scale and multitudinousness (that's the best word I can find for envisioning thousands of reactions per second). I am excited to get back to reading (right in the next minute or so!) and encouraged that my future teachers have chosen this text with these authors because I really really like it.

Meanwhile, some practical things:

• There was already a raised bed and a corn stalk at our apartment when we moved in
• We sang "Blessed be the Name of the Lord" in church today and I cried like a dignified baby.
• I hate driving in a car with a permanently-up driver's side power window and no A/C. My irritation has matured into pure, unadulterated hatred.
• There are a ton of kids in our complex, and they run in packs.
• We can walk to the grocery store in 5 minutes or so.
• Candler Woods is the Emory equivalent of College Woods...and we can go there to get our fix of woods and lake. That's a mercy, because I think we might all shrivel up without our woods/lake fix.
• Richie needs this computer to get interactive mapping!

Love to all, b

The Eagle has Landed

Vivian and Mazie are taking a cold bath right now, washing off the itchy grass feeling they got from playing in the yard we share with approximately 12 other units. They really like it. This neighborhood (apartment complex if you like) is like Little Brooklyn in the sense that it's multicultural and family-ish. We also have some artsy neighbors with an absolutely amazing garden (will upload photos when I can).

I was in interpersonal lock-down for about 48 hours after we moved here - not really trusting my surroundings or myself in them enough to correspond with the outside world in anything more than a cursory way. I can't think of any good reason for me to have taken so long to warm up to the idea of relaxing in this new place, but it did.

From start to finish, we have had an incredible amount of help with this process. I thank everyone who has moved our boxes, hefted our furniture, tetris-ed our moving truck, fed us, and lifted our spirits at every step. WOW, have we had help.

In the past couple of days, we have taken care of some practical issues:

1. returning Penske truck to Penske place across town
2. Returning hand truck separately because we forgot the hand truck in our living room
3. Cleaning kitchen thoroughly
   
4. Shelf papering all shelves
5. Getting "as-is" bookshelf to substitute for our pantry
6. Introducing ourselves to the pool
7. Learning our way around this part of town while on various errands

I have to say that, in general, we live in a family-friendly place with an abundance of cool places to eat, interesting places to visit, and tons of events (Tomorrow, for instance, is the Peachtree Road Race at 7:30 a.m. We plan to watch the finish line, which is 2 miles from our house.).

The key is, our kids make this a home. They necessitate and create a home base. Gotta go read them to bed.

b