How We Got Here

Wow! Can it be? Is it possible that our time as a 'pre-med' is drawing to a close?

Looking back at our journey, I suppose we really got serious about pursuing medical school in the fall of 2011. My hubby brought it up from time to time throughout our entire marriage (married in 2005), but something changed in 2011. An invisible switch was flipped. We decided to go for it. We prayed, planned and scrambled. We paid off as much debt as we could and restructured our finances so that we could live on my income alone. By April of 2012, he was able to leave his full-time job. Of course, we told no one about our plans until March. We gave our loved ones just enough time to process our major life change, but not enough time to talk us out of it. 

We were on a mission.

He started school full time the summer of 2012, knocked out 43 hours of science prerequisites over the next year, took the MCAT in 2013, and applied that summer. Oh, and somehow managed to finish up his MBA somewhere along the way. I am exhausted just thinking about it. At times, it feels like the last several years slipped by in the blink of an eye. At other times...it feels like a lifetime. 

Yet, here we are. In 2014. Mission accomplished.

In eight weeks, we will move. To a city ten hours and four states away. To a city that we have visited a grand total of two times. 

In eight weeks, I will proudly watch my man don his short white coat. Then be witness to the insane amount of time, effort, and energy he will put into his dream. 

In eight weeks I might be unemployed and uninsured. But we will accept that first installment of student loan money with joy instead of stress. 

This path, this life we chose, is a privilege. It has strengthened our marriage in immeasurable ways. My husband's decision to pursue medicine has stirred within me a desire, no a demand, for a more adventurous life. A life lived simply, yet full of passion, freedom, and catch-your-breath excitement. 

We cut our income in half to do this. We sold our home and most of our belongings to do this. We changed our entire lives to do this.

And in eight weeks, we finally get to do it. 

I'm ready. 

Natalie 
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