So what have we been doing these uninteresting days? Some friends encouraged me to write about what we have been up to in the in-between moments, those parts of life that don't usually get told when someone asks what's new or what did we do this week. It's not like we haven't been doing things, the Lord knows we are busy by the way I have come crawling on my knees desperate for Him to refresh my soul and spirit to face the demands of life! To the best I can remember, here's a peek into our Monday - Thursdays as we know it now (the weekends are always different, almost never the same!).
6:00 AM
7:20 AM
My day at the law firm begins with making coffee for the office and then I eat some breakfast at my desk while I open my email to work on drafting court documents, checking my voice mail for client's questions and concerns (usually the later). As the day progresses there's many phone calls, faxes, emails, letters and a few meetings to discuss cases. I eat lunch at my desk (sometimes the highlight of my day!) and occasionally I may take a quick walk around the large grassy island in the parking lot so as not to fall asleep on my keyboard. My desk proceeds to get covered in papers as the afternoon goes by ... I believe the legal world kills saplings on a daily basis! At about 1pm I start scrambling to wrap up loose ends because by this time 3:30 pm comes quickly! Lately I've put in some long days but knowing that Jason is either on campus studying or deep in notes and modules at home makes it easier to stay and get things done.
3:30 PM
darkened stairwell to escape out the back door into the blinding afternoon sun! Once I drive away I try to take care of any errands and knock them out before racing ahead of the 5 pm traffic. On Tuesdays after work I head south to visit my parents and grandparents for the rest of the day and on Thursdays I stay in town near my work to grocery shop at my #1 and #2 stores (Costco & Trader Joe's) and maybe get an adjustment at my chiropractor's office. By the time I finish it's usually past dinner time so I grab a ready made sushi roll at Trader Joe's and enjoy it to the last bite! Most Thursdays I get together with a group of friends from my church to catch up on life, talk about the sermon from Sunday and find out if anyone could use a hand with something or an encouraging word after a hard day, a prayer for things on our minds or simply to share stories about our week. I enjoy hearing what others have been doing because I need the chance to stop thinking about my own schedule and to-do list. Sometimes it helps me put my own selfish concerns into perspective when I realize how good I have it! Making friends and getting to the place of being comfortable and close with people is tough and takes a lot of time and effort but in the end, when you find those people, it's worth it! My Grandfather has been struggling with Dementia and has declined fast over the last 2+ years. Despite the fact that he doesn't really remember that I am his Granddaughter, when we tell him he seems delighted every time and with a beaming face says, "You don't say?!" In this photo below I brought him a book on classic cars and he looked through all 295 pages. I've brought it several times and each time it's new to him.
My Grandmother and I have recently been re-organizing her library. She is a lover of books and has read every single one she owns and has such a generous heart that she's constantly giving them away or at least buying a second copy to give away. I have enjoyed every life story that is tied to her books!
6:00 PM
Tuesdays and Thursdays I pretty much do my own thing. Some of the best advice I received about being the spouse of a med student is, don't wait on your med school spouse to live your life. If you want to volunteer, do it! If you want to go to a concert, a movie, spend time at the lake or dinner with friends, do it! If your spouse can join you it will be an extra treat but don't wait for them or you might never do anything except blame them for your missed opportunities. Jason has been so supportive of this, he tells me often I should go without him even when I know he is sad to miss out. He also has a few things he does without me, he attends a Bible study with guys from his class and Friday evenings he helps run a mobile clinic in a refugee community.
The nights we are home together we often find ourselves working silently in the same room. Jason with his never ending load of med school things, me emailing, managing our schedule for church responsibilities, family functions (with my large family it's usually a function) and other random commitments or med school events that Jason forwards to me. Sometimes we talk briefly about our budget but it's not a long conversation because Neobudget shows you exactly what was spent and what is left and more. Jason manages most of it which I am so grateful for!
Between studying, he watches sports, I "waist" time on Pinterest pinning recipes, researching how to organize small spaces, build DIY wood things, reading about life hacks and day dreaming about how to fix up our next home! I've thought about exercising or reading a book in the evenings but both sound unappealing after a long day. This energy usually goes into meal planning (go figure!). There's also never ending cleaning, folding laundry, and putting together lunches for us for the next day, you know, normal life stuff! ..... side thought: preparing food takes up a lot of my evenings, way too much time in my opinion but our budget demands it and the love of flavorful, fresh food motivates me to keep cooking. It's just a part of life we cannot ignore! I read this book and it gave me a different perspective about why God might have created us to need 3 meals a day "A Meal with Jesus: Discovering Grace, Community, Mission around the Table".
Before I head to bed, if I'm lucky, Jason can take a break and we watch a show together. This is something we used to do a lot pre-med school days and I miss it so when he has time it's always a treat! Again, there are a few shows I started watching without him because if I wait for him I won't really get to watch the show as regularly as I'd like. One of them is Scrubs (check it out on Netflix), I didn't watched it when it came out but someone told me I should and it's been entertaining and in some ways insightful (just ignore some of the relationship advice!).
On top of all this, we've been apartment hunting. We've come up on our one year mark with our friends and have all decided that this past year has been great, but it's time move (more on this later!).
By this time I'm getting tired, it's approaching that time of night for me that it's dangerous to bring up any serious conversations because I'm going to be emotional, irrational and possibly say things I regret. I longingly glance over at the unfinished scarp books or paintings I keep promising myself I'm going to complete, but by this time it's too late to start. Jason is usually in a groove with studying and will remain there until any time between 10:45 pm - 2:30 am. Most often he closes the computer around 11:30 pm - 12 am. Before heading to bed, I give him a peck on the cheek, a hug or a smooch and ask him if I can get him anything. He usually responds with, "no, I should be finishing soon" (I learned quickly after being married that "soon" means different things for both of us). I close the door to the office feeling slightly guilty that I get to sleep while he is studying, but what can I do? He works so hard, I'm constantly amazed at his dedication and ability to keep pressing on.
It takes me a while to get ready for bed, if it's the beginning of the week I'm a bit grumpy as I pluck out the millions of bobby pens in my hair, brush my teeth and select an outfit for the next day. If it's Wednesday night I'm a little more confident that I'll make it through to Friday. Although I might be grumpy I usually settle down once I'm snuggled in the covers. Before I fall asleep I try to end the day with a prayer of thankfulness to God for bringing us through, for the roof over our head, employment to put bread (glutton free) on the table and favor that he has given Jason with his studies, professors and peers. I pray that he will bless our sleep and keep our hearts and minds fixed on the important things in life so as not to get bogged down by the small, insignificant things that creep in to steel our attention away from what really matters. I pray that God will sustain Jason as he works so hard and that Jason will behold the awesomeness of God as he studies the complexities of our bodies.
I fall asleep with a full heart that also feels slightly empty for Jason but that quickly changes when I hear the coffee grinder downstairs as he preps the next day brew ... he's done studying! He then flings himself into bed (he rarely climbs under the covers slowly which causes all the heat to escape!) and I get to then snuggle in beside him and soak in these moments since down the road, he might be on long rotations in a hospital somewhere.
In the end, it's a good day. Individually they feel long
but after a year of them it's amazing how short they seem!
I chose this verse passage a few weeks ago for our chalk board to wrap up the end of our first year of medical school.
It seems fitting!
