Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans. - John Lennon

'Life' is definitely what happened to me while I was getting ready to move away from Auburn - my home for 4 wonderful years. 'Life' is what happened when I was coping with losing my sweet, sweet grandmother and a great friend only months apart. 'Life' is what happened when I was mentally preparing myself to start medical school - something I wasn't sure I wanted to do anymore. 'Life' brought the sweetest little munchkin who stole my heart, rescued my soul and is teaching me lessons about 'Life' each and everyday.

If you asked me two years ago what I would be doing in November 2011, I doubt changing diapers, searching for lost pacifiers at 3AM or wading through a sea of toys to get to my books would have made the top 100 list. The girl I used to be would not recognize the person I've become. Trying to juggle medical school and motherhood was never the way I had planned things, but there's a reason why I am not in charge of my own destiny. If and when I ever figure it out, I'll let you know. Until then, I like to think that my life provides a little entertainment for those witnessing my struggles to find my maternal instinct between the pages of my medical school textbooks.

For the sake of time and tears of boredom, I'll just share a few things that I have learned over the past 8 months... (Yikes! PG is 8 already months old)

Babies love stories from Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease (as proven by above photo). Bedtime stories from Grant's dissector....not my greatest idea as a new mommy.
 

 

Sometimes, when school gets me down I pull out this photo and laugh...out loud, real hard. And if I've hard an exceptionally hard day and one photo doesn't do it for me, I move on to the next photo...
                 

You can't not laugh at this one. Really? This is my child. She's nuts...just like her momma. Studying with this goof ball around is pretty difficult some days but I really don't remember what my life was like before Miss Priss. There's no feeling greater than coming home to that sweet giggle and gummy little smile, especially after a long day.

While never in my wildest dreams did I image trying to navigate myself through medical school while trying to raise a child with as little emotional scarring as possible. But, like I said before, there's a reason I'm not in charge. There's a reason why I am now a brand new mommy when children were never in my plan. I wanted to rescue a house worth of dogs. Little did I know, PG would come along and rescue me.

I'm no different than the next person. I'm just doing all I know to do - never give up. I wanted to go to medical school, and I was determined from day one not to let my baby bump [in the road] be the reason I didn't make it. I have a new motivation for finishing school and a new outlook on life. Not to mention unlimited access to unpredictable entertainment. While my nights are sometimes long and my mornings are too often too early, somehow all of these struggles, all of the tears and pints of ice cream (and extra pounds I just can't shed!) will not be in vain. My experiences now will make me a better doctor in the future. My predicaments have a purpose, if only to teach me a lesson that I seem to never learn - I am NOT in control.

Stayed tuned for more stories of the saga that has become my life...