Well 2015, for all that we got to a terrible start you turned things around pretty well.
In attempting to put this post together, I discovered there were several months last year in which I got pictures of my outfits...and almost nothing else. So consider that a resolution for this year - I'm going to take more pictures of life itself, instead of only what I'm wearing while life itself is happening.
Oh January, you crummy month you. I spent the majority of the month being sick, starting with a cold and then progressing to a series of nasty sinus infections. My grandmother passed away. We wrapped up HHD [worst module ever?] and I ran directly from the miniboard to the airport to head up to Maryland for the funeral...only to find that my flight had been cancelled...only to then scramble to be rebooked on a flight to Baltimore and then be driven the remaining two hours of my journey by a kind stranger I met at the Mobile airport. But beyond that, it was nice in its own way to get to see part of my dad's extended family for the brief duration of our sad reunion. It was interesting to get to visit the area where my dad grew up, and to get to "meet" his father for the first time graveside. I only wish it could have occurred under better circumstances.
February in Mobile means Mardi Gras, and Mardi Gras means awesome things are happening. My friends and I attended the Mystic Stripers ball at the beginning of the month, and took advantage of our Mardi Gras holiday to go view some of the parades downtown...and of course collect all the beads and MoonPies that got thrown our way. We also had a backyard bonfire celebrating the end of HHD by torching our syllabus [as well as some ex-boyfriend mementos] and celebrated a couple of birthdays in grand fashion.
March arrived with a short spring break and saw the end of our cardiovascular module followed by the start of respiratory. I made a quick trip up to Birmingham for a girls' weekend with my friends Su and Divya, during which we ate Steel City Pops and shopped [semi-unsuccessfully] for dresses for our Asclepian Ball. And...not much else of note happened beyond that.
Looking back on it, April turned out to be a fairly jam-packed month. We went to our first Asclepian Ball, held at the Athelstan Club downtown. My dad stopped in for a short visit while on his way to do a few things to our condo, and a couple of friends came down for a quick trip. We wrapped up respiratory and celebrated with a weekend getaway at the beach. And, of course, I volunteered at the student-run free clinic one Saturday and wound up meeting a cute 3rd year who turned out to be pretty special...and who later messaged me on Facebook to which I promptly forgot to reply for 2 weeks while wrapped up in the standard end-of-module haze. Oops.
May was the month of renal, and it was not great. I really struggled with this module, so it was a huge relief to wave it goodbye at the end of first year. We also celebrated my friend Ann's impending nuptials with a lovely bridal shower. I soaked up the sunshine before it got too hot and miserable. C and I went on a first date that he will forever torment me about, involving me being not 100% certain it was even a date in the first place. But he made up for that confusion by treating me to a weekend in Fairhope after my school year ended, perfect for relaxing and unwinding from a crazy amount of stress.
I ran home for a few days at the beginning of the month to recoup before setting off on my subsequent adventures. I got to hang out with my mom for a few days and visited my friend Kate up in Nashville to see her in her adorably pregnant state, and also came down with pinkeye because life can't be too easy. Then it was off to Peru! Which I promise I'll blog about one of these days. Upon returning to the country I started my summer preceptorship at a rural clinic northwest of Mobile. I attended the Alabama Academy of Family Physicians conference in Destin, Florida [where I got to meet the team doctor for Auburn! War Eagle!]. And then, of course, I totalled my car on the very last day of June, when I dozed off and drove off the road into a ditch. Fun times.
July kicked off like it always does, with festivities for the Fourth. I had a few days off from clinic to recoup from my accident, so C and I took a long weekend in Fairhope at his family's bay house. We grilled burgers with his parents and watched beautiful fireworks over Mobile Bay. July also ended up being The Month of Weddings. My friends and I threw a somewhat impromptu bachelorette party for my friend Jordan, involving going to a drag show at a bar downtown. Jordan got married up in Decatur, so my friends and I roadtripped home for a weekend to celebrate, and I got to drive my new car back down to start a new chapter in my automobile saga. Ann got married the following weekend in Daphne, and I showed Boyfriend off in "public" for the first time. Clinic chugged along in its own interesting way, and I had the opportunity to spend a day observing a cardiologist in Mobile in the cath lab - way cool.
August brought the med school grind back into play. I volunteered on orientation committee and got to spend a week showing the new M1s the ropes. C and I escaped up to Atlanta for a few days after he took the first part of Step 2, to celebrate our last little bit of freedom before launching back into the craziness. We stayed at a swanky hotel and attended a Braves game with some of his friends, and shopped and ate like little crazy people. Then I started off the school year with GI, which was fun in some ways and decidedly not fun in others.
Labor Day weekend was largely spent at the beach - one day shopping and lounging with Ann, the next day relaxing and splashing Boyfriend in the Gulf. September brought a ton of rain that did some serious damage to C's car - which would get taken in to the shop and then not seen again for 2+ months - as well as the opening of Mobile's new Whole Foods. September was also the month when a mystery friend [or two?] started leaving pumpkins outside my door - an occurrence which was quite trivial, of course, but wildly entertaining nonetheless. My own Great Pumpkin ended up depositing 8 pumpkins of various sizes outside my door, to great hilarity.
October = Birthday Month, so obviously it was the best one out of the year. ;) We kicked things off by wrapping up GI, and then I took Boyfriend home for the weekend to attend my friend Kate's mustachioed baby shower; it was fun getting to show off a few bits of North Alabama during the brief time we had up there. I ran my little Frocktober fundraiser for the fourth year. I got talked into being Princess Leia for our school Halloween party...which ended up worth it because C then took me to see Taylor Swift in Atlanta the next day! Not that the two are connected in any way, but whatevs. My parents and my aunt came down for a little vacation at the end of the month, and we all went out to dinner for my birthday. And finally, we capped off November by watching Auburn play Ole Miss at football.
November was a fast-moving little month, what with Thanksgiving shaving off some class time and all. I got to see Fairhope light their Christmas trees for the season, and Boyfriend and I went ice skating at Mobile's temporary outdoor rink. Thanksgiving rolled around and I ate a ton of food, forced my family into holiday photos yet again, and refused to let my dogs take off the little costumes that they hate so much. I also got to attend the Iron Bowl for the first iem! It was my brother's last game as part of the band actually at Jordan-Hare, so the experience was rather bittersweet.
December is always so magical, right? We wrapped up endo/repro right before Thanksgiving break and came back to start musculoskeletal...which kind of sucks. There was a lot of time spent in anatomy lab dissecting out tiny structures on our cadavers. C took me to Bellingrath Gardens to see the holiday lights for the first time, which was beautiful. I went home for the holidays and celebrated with my friends at Liesel's annual Christmas party. I spent a quiet Christmas with my family, all of us feeling the notable absence of my grandmother during a time of year that was always spent in her company. I came back down to Mobile to attend the Nutcracker Charity Ball shortly after Christmas, and then we headed off on a surprise trip to Disney World to ring in the new year at the happiest place on earth.
2015 definitely had its ups and downs, but all in all I can't complain about how the year turned out. I laughed a lot, I cried a lot, and I enjoyed a lot. Hopefully 2016 turns out in a similar vein. I know I start off every year feeling quite optimistic about what it holds, but honestly 2016 scares the poop out of me. We're wrapping up this second year of medical school with our neuroscience block, which sounds terrifying. I'm taking Step 1 - also terrifying. I'm also going to be moving on up to the hospital to be unleashed on real patients finally, which is only what I've been anticipating for the past, oh, eleven or twelve years? Fingers crossed I survive it all.