Med School Prom, A Birthday, and A Wish

The first weekend back from Thanksgiving break, there is always a winter formal or as it is known around here med school prom. This year the theme was The Fungus Ball. Luckily the fungus was kept to a minimum. We all get dressed up (in Kirksville, you just at the chance to get dressed up cause the chances are few and far between), go to the dinner, and then it's time for those dance moves that have been suppressed while studying vascular plexuses, spinal dysfunctions, embryology, and all that other fun stuff resurfaces. It was ridiculously fun to hang out with friends and not feel guilty because I wasn't studying. After, a group of friends went out to observe Kirksville's finest. I have to just thank Christine who is like my older sister (even though she is younger) and acts as my buffer whenever we are together. She protects me from the creeper at the club who is trying to rock the fake Spanish accent in KVegas or that jerk that didn't treat me the best but then wants to act like everything is fine. She is the best. The fake Spanish accent guy did make Friday night that much better.

And then I got older...but for some reason everyone thinks I'm two years younger than I am so I think I'll just start using that age. Even some of my family members thought I turned 24. Awesome. This year, the birthday wasn't so ominous. I had a really hard time turning 25 last year. For some reason it felt so old. This year it was different. For whatever reason, 26 doesn't seem like a bad age. I am optimistic about this year. So much is going right with my life and I feel like I am in control. So this year instead of hiding away and being reluctant about celebrating, some of my friends took me out to dinner. I lucked out for the day and only had two lectures so I got to take a nap and decorate for Christmas. That, in my book, makes a fantastic day these days. Unfortunately, it meant today was pretty packed with stuff but I did rule out two specialties while in anatomy lab today. There is no way in hell I want to be a urologist or a gastroenterologist. But I am a pro at scooping the crap out of the megacolon of our cadaver. This involved many, many, many paper towels, a saran wrapped forearm, doubling up on the gloves, and lots of Downy spray. Not the high point of my life.

So on a less gross note....I try to be very aware of just how fortunate I am. During the holiday season, it is even more apparent how blessed I have been in my life. On Sunday I went shopping for the Christmas Angel I picked up from the tree at school. I got a little girl who is 5 years old and was sadly limited to spending no more than $30. It was so hard. Being in this community for 2 years now, I have had several opportunities to witness how hard it is for many people around me to make ends meet. Often times, the gifts that we turn in for the Christmas Angel's are the only gifts the kids get. It made me so sad looking at the tags on the tree. The majority of the kids were asking for things that many of us wouldn't consider to be gifts. Socks, underwear, gloves, and pants were popular wants. This Saturday, I am participating in Adopt-A-Child. It is an event where children in the community that have been identified by the local fire department as at-risk and lowest income are matched with a student and we get on a bus and go to Walmart where we help the kids spend $30 on themselves. Last year when I did this the little girl wanted to buy presents for her family instead of spending it on herself. We are supposed to direct them to spend it on gifts for them so I encouraged her to do that and we ended up shopping for shoes for school, pajamas because she didn't have any, and a warmer sweatshirt (she showed up with just a long sleeved shirt on and there was definitely snow on the ground at the time). SO...my wish...every year my big, blessed family exchanges names for gifts. I don't know who has my name but if it could get around to that person that all I want is for the money that would be spent on me go to buying toys to be donated to Toys-For-Tots or taking a name off a tree or paying a family who needs it groceries or paying their heating bill. I hate receiving gifts but there is nothing that makes me more excited than seeing the delight on someone else's face as they receive something they never imagined they would get. Just the thought of bringing joy to someone else makes me feel good. So if whoever in my family reads this could do some convincing, I would really appreciate it. I don't have a lot of room in my luggage anyways and checked bag fees aren't fun.

I hope everyone is healthy, happy, and not getting too stressed out by the crazy shoppers.