I have it!

I have discovered my new packing motivation.

For every box that I complete, I reward myself with a wee bit of refreshment.

Hello leftover Liebfraumilch!

I think I will unpack and repack my one lowly box.

To pack or not to pack

I'm not a packer. I try. I sit down and think about how best to start. I look up packing supply packages on line. I make sure that our pods are scheduled for delivery. I debate whether to buy boxes or to spend my time going from store to store collecting boxes for free. I makes plans in my head as to which room I will tackle first.

But do I actually start packing?

No.

Instead, I look at old pictures and photo albums. I do several loads of laundry (because when I do start packing, I only want to pack clean items!). I continue to plan in my head.

I'm much better at unpacking.

Now Katherine, on the other hand, is a master packer. I think she inherits this from her father. Katherine packed up her entire apartment in ONE night when she moved out to Iowa.

Maybe I could pretend to be her for 3 weeks, and she could be me. I think more progress would be made. I don't think I could pass as a teacher, though.

Hot kitty in the city

Can life get any better?

Let's see. In the course of a week, I...

1. Finished med school.
2. Attended my little brother's wedding.
3. Saw family and siblings that I had not seen in years.
4. Had many laughs with said-siblings.
5. Caught up with old friends.
6. Met new and virtual friends.
7. Made lovely pendants.
8. Toured my sister around Iowa City for a final visit.
9. Had the wonderful surprise of Kath's mother arriving for my graduation.
10. Graduated. (That elusive MD, PhD is no longer so elusive.)
11. Discovered a lovely park that I had never seen in my 8 years here.
12. Had one last celebratory dinner at our favorite local fine dining establishment.
13. Enjoyed many long talks and laughs.
14. Warmed up with eggrolls at the Farmer's Market.
15. Smiled excessively.

Tomorrow, it's back to the reality of packing.

This one goes out to the one I love.

I'm done. I just took my last test as a med student. Hurrah!

As I was walking to take my last test, it finally hit me that after 8 years, I will finally graduate. Life will move on. I was so excited that I was shaking - unfortunately that last test was an essay-version. Hopefully my writing is legible.

I have been lucky. I have had wonderful teachers and mentors and supporters all throughout my life.

The one person, though, without whom I would not be graduating in one week, who I met during my first year here at Iowa, and who has been an unfailing supporter during my last 7 years, is my hon bun, my better half, my wonderful super-duper Katherine.

She has cheered me on (as well as distracted me) every step of the way. (I believe I almost failed a pathology exam during my 2nd year after we drove to Ames to an outstanding Elton John/Billy Joel concert (which was completely awesome and worth almost failing). I also recall being up until the wee hours of the morning finishing up my PhD comprehensive exam proposal after we went to a Sarah McLachlan concert in Hartford.) She has read I don't know how many versions of my thesis intro. She has had to listen to me tell her umpteen million random facts while studying, which I am sure have not been as interesting to her. She has been tormented by me showing her pictures of diseases that I think are interesting and she thinks are disgusting. She has been my practice fake patient for physical exam skills. And she has been there during my hard times - times when I felt alone, times when I felt like a failure, times when I felt like I would never ever in a million years graduate.

She is the best person in the entire world. She makes me so happy every day.

I am so lucky.

2009 BC

I am living in BC time... "before computers". That time was more peaceful - no need to check email every few hours, no need to frequently update myself on the breaking news, no need to check facebook, or blogs, or any of the other sites I frequent on a regular basis.
I'm living in that time again, since our power cord for our Mac melted. First the cord simply frayed, so we were trying to continue using it while waiting for our new one. But, the other day I saw it smoking while I was trying to charge the computer, so I decided in the interest of fire safety, that we would just not bother.

So, we are computer-less for now.

I'm knitting a lot. I'm organizing the house for the move. I'm reading. I'm talking to Katherine more. I'm cleaning. I'm looking at old pictures. I'm doing laundry. I'm even doing my homework for my EKG class (which is difficult since I only have 2.5 days left... I'm in a slacking mode in a major way... although I do enjoy reading EKGs.)

In short, life in the time BC was and is very good.

This settles it. No super-duper fancy Blackberry or iPhone for me.

My perfect morning in Iowa City

I wake up to the sun streaming in the window at 7 am.

I don't have to get up, but I do because it's such a nice morning.

I have a wee cup of coffee to get me started.

I shower.

I wake Kath up, and we head downtown.

We wander around the Farmer's Market and ooh and aah over all of the spring plants that we can't buy because we're moving.

We drink coffee and tea and share a muffin at the Java House and read in the paper about all of the same-sex marriages this week in Iowa City.

We move to the Ped Mall and soak up the sun for a bit.

We wander down to the Art Fair along the river and go to every booth twice.

I find many things that I want to buy, but I restrain myself and only buy one item for me - under $20.

We amble back downtown and browse around the Artisans' Gallery.

We pick up lunch - Cashew on a Hot Tin Roof sandwich - from the New Pi Co-op and enjoy it at City Park with the river (quite high) lapping at our feet. Kath feeds our crumbs to the happy duck couple.

We head home and enjoy the afternoon sun now on our deck with our kitties.