I'm baaaaaaaaaack!

I took a four day hiatus from the computer while I went to visit my family this weekend. I left just after shadowing the Ob/Gyn on Thursday and got back just in time to miss my father-in-law's visit last night. I had a great weekend - so great, in fact, that I skipped school this morning to recover from it. Now THAT'S a spring break.

Thursday at the Ob/Gyn's office was so much fun. I followed her in clinic all day and, while I was nervous about just standing around all day, I had a blast. The doctor involved me in conversations and let me do stuff and the patients were all so nice and happy. It was great. A resident worked in the afternoon and let me inundate her with questions about residency and how she picked Ob/Gyn and what her life was like and what she thought was good and where else she looked and... you get the idea. She was awesome and answered all of my questions. I walked away from the day feeling even more sure about what I want my future to look like.

I drove to see my family (about 3 hours away) after leaving the Ob/Gyn and went to my father's house. He is a surgeon and had agreed to let me come to work with him on Friday and annoy him. So Friday was another "work" day where I got to hang out with cool people and ask all the questions my little heart desired. He had clinic in the morning, where we saw some interesting thing. (For me, the most interesting thing was that the history and physical, which takes me and hour and a half, would take him less than ten minutes. And it was no less complete. Hm.) Then he had a case in the afternoon and I got to see a hemicolectomy, where my father (MY DAD!!) took out part of this patient's large intestine. It was so interesting, and a little trippy, considering that my goofball father, the guy who can't figure out how to program numbers into his cell phone and so carries around an address book with his phone, was INSIDE SOMEONE'S BELLY AND MADE THEM BETTER BECAUSE OF IT. Craziness.

Friday night was dinner with my dad, his sweetheart, and Baby Mama sister, Best Nephew Ever, and Brother-In-Law. It was fun and only slightly awkward, as I was torn between wanting to steak Baby Mama and whisper with her in the corner and rehash the entire day with my dad. In trying to be inclusive and socially appropriate, I ended up just nose-diving in to my dinner and letting other people talk. Trust me, that doesn't happen all that often.


Friday night through Saturday night were spent at Baby Mama's house with them. We had such a great time, talkking and laughing. They are some of my favorite people ever and DAMN THAT BABY IS SO CUTE. I took a brief leave of them to visit my good friend from days of old and her 2 year old daughter. This visit was good for my soul and also slightly humbling, as the 2 year old told me that I wasn't too fat, but was fatter than I was the last time. Well, it's true.

The whole fam congregated Saturday night at my old high school to watch my sister perform in her Color Guard competition. She was beautiful and did so well, but that did not nor could not stop me from thinking that Color Guard is among the strangest "sports" around. I just cannot figure it out. Is it dance? Gymnastics? Marching band? Cirque du soleil?

Coming home last night was bittersweet. Even though I missed Patrick, I miss my family and it is always difficult for me to leave them. Coming home to a messy house didn't help that feeling much, but Patrick watched my favorite movie with me, so all was well with the world.