News.
Yesterday medical students all across the country participated in the culmination of a process known as the National Resident Matching Program. I went down to Southern California to be with my daughter for the event. Today I am very happy that she has matched into a top-notch neurosurgical residency program; sad, however, that her next seven years will be spent in the Pacific Northwest rather than the Bay Area.
This is what happens when you give birth to and raise someone with these particular abilities. You celebrate loudly at all appropriate moments, afterwards maybe you cry a little bit in the airport. Her happiness, however, is encouraging mine.
Have an excellent weekend everyone.
50 Responses
I remember being so depressed every time I had to leave my grandchildren. Fortunately if I don’t break a body part I can visit my kids about once a month or every six weeks. Oh, for the old days when you all lived in the same town and the same street.
Congratulations to your daughter!
@Sandra Sallin-Apart From My Art, Same town and same street is a dream. You take care of those bones now!
Warmest congratulations to your daughter and thank God she’s not moving to the Midwest!
@Shawn, The Midwest is a great place to live and has top notch medical training!
@Shawn,
I think Shawn meant that the pacific northwest is geographically much closer and therefore easier for maternal visits…
@Shawn, Elbe I too think that’s what Shawn meant, also, cold for us West Coasters! Thanks for the congrats guys.
That is great news (maternal ambivalence notwithstanding). Look at it this way- PNW is still pretty close, and you have an excuse for some travel. Good luck to her.
@Kristina, It is great news. And, a beautiful place to travel. Thanks:).
Congratulations to your daughter and to you! On the plus side? The Pacific Northwest is a wonderland. Depending on your daughter’s locale, she will be in a physically beautiful and culturally rich place that has the advantage of being close (or yet closer) to the Canadian border and all that beckons from there. I see happy visits in your future. xo.
@Katherine C. James, It is all of the above. Thanks for the good wishes.
Congratulations to your daughter for choosing to be a neurosurgeon and for getting her match in a beautiful location. And to you for raising a wonderful human being, Lisa. Now, start saving up those credit card points!
@Mamavalveeta03, Thank you! And I’m going to have to switch airline frequent flyer membership!
Congratulations! You (and she) must be so proud of her accomplishments.
@Leslie K, Thank you. I surely am. I think she is too, she certainly deserves to be.
Congratulations!! And guess what. You’ll love visiting this fab emerging rockstar doctor daughter. Heck, I’m proud of her and I haven’t even met her yet! And most of all, sending you love for this important and most natural & maternal of transitions.
@Sarah, Thank you. I am getting more excited about her new living environment every day. And thank you for the sent love. xoxo
My son used to live twelve time zones away. Now it’s only two. It seems like nothing.
@AK, Twelve time zones! Oh my gosh. Good perspective. Thank you!
Congratulation to you and your daughter! She’s perfect and will be a wonderful neurosurgeon
Dottoressa
@Dottoressa, Thank you so much.
Congratulations to her, and to you as the proud mother. I understand your ambivalence about the distance, especially with your son across the country. Best wishes to all of you.
@MJ, Thank you. One idea of the future fades, the other becomes brighter. I’m just going to have to travel more inside the USA I think.
Lisa, Many congratulations on your daughter’s match.
The gain and the loss are both real.
Society really does need gifted medical doctor’s no less an actual neurosurgeon. Despite the distance, you must be so proud!
Luci
@luci, The gain and the loss are both real. I am so proud. and, so happy for her. It is the best match for her, a phenomenal program and a city she loved at first sight. Just mama is a little sad.
Congratulations to your daughter on a great match. I know you must have been hoping for very close by – but as others have said, it’s not that far, and it’s a beautiful place to visit. How long a residency is it? I imagine quite long.
@KSL, Oh my god it’s SEVEN YEARS! I am going to have to learn to love this new city for sure. And no joint travel to Europe I’m guessing – neurosurgical residencies are so demanding. But, I am very, very proud of her and it will be amazing training.
Congrats to your daughter, Lisa. Brilliant achievement and wishing her every success.
SSG xxx
@Sydney Shop Girl, Thank you so much.
Congratulations to your daughter for her accomplishments and to you for having raised such an accomplished individual! Although it is not the Bay Area, it is still a beautiful location so you will enjoy your visits. Great news!
@Jane, Thank you! I swear to you she was born this way.
“My daughter the neurosurgeon” – WOW! Many congrats to her, and to you, as her always-supportive mama. I hope we can all look forward to posts and photos from your visits to “the Pacific Northwest” – by all accounts a truly excellent place to Iive, work, and play.
(Plus, the climate up north should be kinder to your lovely daughter’s fair skin than that of San Diego – assuming that she’ll have any time during her residency to get out of the hospital!)
@Victoire, I totally thought about the cloud cover, and told her as much:). I look forward to posting about trips up there – it is a beautiful place.
Congratulations to your daughter!
@Cathy, Thank you!
This is just wonderful. Congratulations to your daughter… and to you, as well!
@Kimberly, Thank you so much!
Amazing!
@Roseag, It is amazing, being a mom, seeing them grow and evolve.
Congratulations to your daughter! I think you’re going to have a new favourite place to visit :) xxx
@DaniBP, I think that you might be right;).
I hope to heck Daughter is thrilled with her match! Seems like a big roll of logarithmic dice to cast one’s fate to a program like this, or is this program SOP for all med students like herself? Maybe you can discover something to sweeten the deal of future visits to the PNW, like maybe a cool little VRBO or AIRBNB you can kick around in for a week or so without formalities of hotel life. Wishing you both nothing but the very best in this new step forward. xo
@Flo, The match is a requirement for all the doctors in the US. Military doctors do a separate one, otherwise, this is how we get our physicians. She is thrilled. So very excited and happy. And maybe I will try an airbnb, that might be really fun. Thanks for the kind wishes.
Congratulations to your daughter and a big hug for you. XO
@Kathryn Irvine-Bray, Thank you! And especially for the hug. <3
Congrats to your daughter! Exciting times ahead! I live in the PNW, I so wanted my daughter to match on the west coast, but her dream was NYC and she was able to match there. I am happy/proud for her. Maybe just a tiny bit sad for me,but I try to focus on what a fun place to visit. :)
@Elizabeth, I am happy my daughter has stayed on the West Coast – and then I have a son in NYC so I guess I should be pleased to have it both ways!
Congratulations to your daughter. It’s such an intense process, I am glad she matched in her dream spot.
My daughter is nearing the end of her first year of residency in pediatrics at UWash. Perhaps she could be helpful with info about living arrangements, other decisions about living in Seattle (if it is Seattle where your daughter will be).
@Mary Jane Glass, That’s very nice of you to offer. I know the current resident are already reaching out to her with advice, but I’d love to email you and see if there’s anything in particular your daughter would like to pass along as guidance. Thank you. And congratulations to your daughter.
Agreed. Seeing children off at airports as they head off to their new lives…mixed emotions.
Congratulations to both of you! To your daughter, for succeeding so well in the first step of her journey as a specialist physician, and to you for nurturing and guiding her in the earlier steps of her journey through life.
We do not realize it at that joyous and overwhelming time, but the moment the umbilical cord is cut, is the moment children start on the journey to independence and accomplishment. We have no way of forseeing where that will lead them….
We live in the East, but our 3 children have all found great jobs on the West Coast, better actually than there would be in the East. So we visit frequently, and BTW airbnb has been terrific each time we have used it – London UK, Victoria BC. I think it is better to choose places that have a lot of positive recommendations from people who have similar interests/activities to yours.
Comments are closed.