She did it!

      Paula is one of the most consistent, tenacious and organized people I have ever known.  Our sister-in-law (one of her closest friends) saw this card, bought it, brought it home and asked her kids, "Who does this remind you of?"  With no prompting, they answered in unison, "Aunt Paula!"

     There are things that bother her that don't cause me any problem (which speaks badly for me, by the way) such as:

or

or

      She pointed out that in addition to the corner of the sheet being out in the picture above, there was NO MATTRESS PAD!!

     This has been great in our married life....mostly.  It means that the house is always neat, the weeds are pulled and the spices are in alphabetical order.  Of course!  Who would dare do otherwise with spices?!

     Note:  I was sternly reprimanded for leaving the cabinet doors open taking that picture.

     The wash is done and neatly folded so that all the towels are stacked the same way.  The pictures are all straight and there are "hospital corners" when the beds are made.  I've been informed that at times I don't stack my jeans the right way, and she will take them out and arrange them correctly.

     Let me emphasize that this is almost always to the good.  Our home has a quiet and peaceful spirit, and while I laugh and give her grief on occasion, I consider myself lucky to be married to her for this and a million other reasons.

     As you've read before, we spent almost five years in South America, and through a LOT of hard and persistent work, she became fluent in Spanish.  She spoke over 300 times in various public meetings and never required a translator.

     We've been home now for nine years, and starting soon after that, Paula signed up for the DuoLingo app.  She says that learning the language was the hardest thing she's ever done, and doesn't want to lose it.  Consistent with her persistence and diligence, she almost never misses a day to "feed the owl," the way the app refers to the daily task.  (Because of her diligence, she can skip very occasionally if we're en route to Kazakhstan or something.)

     So, she made it!  Three thousand days in a row!

    She was asked, "So, what now?"  "4,000 days!  Duh!"

    Not long ago, a friend of a grandson bragged that he had a 200-day streak on DuoLingo.  Nathan laughed and said, "OK, my grandmother is closing in on 3K.  My GRANDMOTHER!"  Take that!

     I have to admit that although I laugh a lot about it, Paula's persistence, diligence and organization are one of the reasons that I love her.  I'll post again when she hits 4,000.  And then 5,000.

Dave

Be careful who you pick for friends

      Because you may have them for a looonnng time.  

     I graduated from the Medical College of Virginia (now VCU School of Medicine) in 1981.  

     During my four years there, I made a lot of good friendships and actually had a lot of fun - mixed in with a lot of hard work, long hours, scary situations, sad outcomes, and...you've heard about the rest.

     The first two years of med school were mostly spent in the classroom, with a few early exposures to patients.  However, the third year, we were thrown in the deep end of the pool without our floaty wings.  The class divided itself into twelve groups to begin the clinical rotations, and these groups formed more-or-less organically.  My friends and I declared ourselves to be "Group 12."

     One of our gang was from my congregation at church in Northern Virginia and I'd known him since about five years old.  Another interviewed at MCV the same day I did in 1976, a couple of months before I met Paula at BYU.  Several were accomplished musicians, and we began meeting at someone's house after big tests to overeat and play music.  I was honored to play alto sax (poorly) a couple of times with the band that was formed, The Cyanotic Blues Band (get the joke?  "Cyanotic" means "blue" - OK not that funny.)

     At the end of medical school, we scattered to residencies in just about all the big branches of medicine.

      We thought we'd had it tough in med school, but as interns and residents we were tossed in the deep end without a life jacket, and this time there were a couple of cinder blocks tied to our ankles and there was someone standing on our head.  

     After THAT was over, just working 70 hours a week felt like a vacation, and we even got PAID!  Woo-hoo!  

     However, over the years Group 12 devolved in to Christmas cards and an occasional visit if we happened to be in that part of the country. 

     Those with whom I was closest have turned out well.  One has been the chief of staff at one of the most prestigious hospital systems in California.  

Another is a professor of anesthesiology at a top-tier medical school, was the head of the national academy of pain specialists, and has testified in Congress concerning hospice care.   

The one with whom I've remained closest became a senior partner in a large ophthalmology practice (and a really good kiteboarder!)  

 Meanwhile, I hung out and caught babies.

     But we're all getting older and are beginning to feel it.  Cancer, serial orthopedic difficulties and what we look like in the mirror have made that clear.  So someone finally called time out for a huddle.

    And it was great!  All four of us are still married - and to our first wives!  We met at the beautiful home of  our buddy in San Diego and took in a Padres game.  Yeah, they lost, but the hot dogs were great and we laughed a lot.

      We toured some good restaurants in San Diego and ate far too much!

      We hit the San Diego zoo!  That's Paula on the left.  (She didn't eat THAT much!)

     We watched the video of our senior med school "Take-offs" in which we made fun of our attending physicians and played some pretty good music, and we laughed some more!

     It was a great four days, but the best part was seeing that everyone had stayed on course.  We all had honorable careers and had stayed true to our ethical bedrock, which may have been naive at first but which proved in the long run to be the right way to go.  

     Do it all over again?  Are you NUTS?  But feel blessed to have found such honorable life-long friends?  Absolutely.  

     So, be careful who you pick for friends.  They may be with you a lot longer than you think.   

Dave & Paula