interviews + moving?

Dan is officially done with interviews.

He had a good time… I went with him to Madison, where we went to a house party for the interviewees which consisted of pizza, beer, and flannel. He tried to go to Chapel Hill but ran into flight issues big enough that he never even made it to that interview. (That was a great time for him. Sarcasm.) He’s been wined and dined at nice restaurants in multiple towns. We Face Time’d a lot. He was able to drive to most of his interviews. He got a really good feel for each program, and several have been clear top-of-the-list choices. 

He gave me the run down after each night-before-gathering and interview. We’ve got our share of differences, but in terms of living situations, we are, thankfully, very much in agreement. There’s been so much to consider… especially knowing we’ll be parents to two non-white little boys! In terms of programs, he’s got a few criteria he was looking for, as well as a general feel for the type of people that work at each hospital. And then city-wise, we’ve been talking about diversity, affordability, distance from our families, weather, safety, opportunities, existing connections to people there… and whether or not there’s an IKEA. Doesn’t look like my IKEA requirement is really going to be met.

It’s become pretty apparent that we won’t be staying in St. Louis. True, anything can happen, and we won’t know until Match Day on March 15th. But it just doesn’t look like our preferences will be focused on staying here.

The matching process is super weird… Med students are allowed to tell their top program that they’re their top program. But programs don’t have total transparency about their preferences. It seriously seems like students are courting programs and programs are courting students. He has a top choice, so he told them they were his #1. And, so proud of my husby: He’s gotten great feedback from his top choice. They can’t say, “Yes, we’re ranking you third,” but they did respond to him by saying, “The feeling is mutual.”

It seems I’m thinking of everything as a countdown until 1) Match Day, 2) Theo + Elliot being home, and 3) moving. It’s hard to stay involved in and focused on the other things God has set before me right now like church, work, and friendships. But I must keep focus.