Wow. Did today really happen? Wow. It feels great to be doing something you have dreamed about and worked so hard for the last 6+ years! It felt very surreal just to be sitting in the lecture hall this morning at Des Moines University... I had to keep pinching myself! Today started off with three nice/easy lectures of Biochemistry. In the second lecture they wheeled in "Steve" our life-like manican, who was unresponsive at the time. He had real stats and was progressively getting worse as the lecture wore on. He even had "sweet" smelling breath - how cool is that! He was having some acid/base issue and we had to figure it out. Talk about a clinical spin on biochem :) I had already deemed him as having diabetic ketoacidosis (which ended up correct!) I did not let my first patient die. Yippee! To say the least, I am loving medical school!
Orientation was last week, and we both felt very welcomed. DMU has such a great community and wonderful people. We will be very busy over the next 2 years, but it is so nice to know that we will be surrounded by people (professors, faculty, classmates) who really care about us. We have met 3 people that graduated from Stillwater HS as well 4 people who graduated from Olaf - what a small world and that does not include either of us!
John and I have gotten into a routine here in Des Moines and I love it! We have gone to the wonderful Farmer's Market twice now, went to a Cubs game, ate at Dos Rios - we are slowly becoming Iowans. We have found a lovely LCMS Church in Urbandale (suburb of DM) called Gloria Dei. Dad - you would be proud! It has an alter, candles, a huge cross, and we say the Apostles Creed ;-) We also go on walks every day (about 2.2 miles) around our quaint neighborhood of Windsor Heights. Many students live right across the street from DMU, and we are about 3 miles away, but I really like. It is so nice to come home and be "removed" from school (even if it is only for 45 mins :) Every Tuesday night we walk to Hyvee (yes the grocery store) and get $3.99 dinner of chinese food - it is good! It is our weekly date! Other than that, we cook all of our meals! John is quite the chef - I am more of the preparer, but we do make an awesome team. We have gotten to know two other students who are in our class that live in the same apartment complex as us. They are really nice and we hang out with them quite often. One of them is Meredith's (one of my best friends and roommate from Olaf) cousin! Again, small world!
On a much sadder note, I would like to take a moment to reflect on life in general. Just 3 days ago I was contacted with some awful news. One of my friends from elementary school was killed in motorcycle accident in Hastings. His name was Jake Benesh and he was 22. (check out this article online: http://www.twincities.com/ci_15706401?source=most_viewed&nclick_check=1) Now, I did not stay close friends with him through college or even High School, but I really wish I had. He was such an awesome person. A wonderful servant of the Lord. He always had a smile on his face and was one of the most upbeat and optimistic people I know. I would regularly check his facebook as he usually had a great, uplifting verse as his status. He will really be missed. Hearing this terrible news threw me aback. He was now the second person to pass away from my small elementary school class at Withrow (our class size was about 27). I will never forget the time we were on a VAA school soccer team together in like 2nd grade. He was goalie and I was out on the field. Someone tried to kick the ball into the net, but Jake saved it and was going to kick it away from the goal. Well, I was standing in front of him just watching him. I probably should have moved, but I didn't and the ball came right at me and as a reflex I kicked. Yes. I kicked it right into the goal. Our goal. We were on the same team. I was so embarrassed! (even though it was my first and only goal of the season!) Jake was so nice about it! Even at a young age he knew what to say to try and make me feel better. I will never forget that moment. I never told him this, but Thanks Jake for not making me feel bad, but instead trying to uplift me. Also, I remember when your mom came to our first grade class and taught us how to use chopsticks! We practiced with M&Ms. I thought you were so cool! I am going to miss you and that awesome smile of yours! I am so sad I will be unable to attend his funeral. I know Jake would not want any of us to be sad, but to rejoice now that he is in Heaven. I know he is in Heaven and that is so comforting to me, so I will try to keep a smile on my face even with the sad news.
I would like to mention that I love married life! We have been married for 51 days now, and yesterday we celebrated 1 since our engagement (again, met with severe storms in DM. 6 inches of rain!) John is so much fun; we have had so many good times. We really do make a great team in all that we do. I miss both of my families dearly but we will see them at the White Coat Ceremony on Aug. 28th - I can't wait! I definitely miss all of my friends from home and Olaf too! Really. Come visit :)
Well, I think my adrenaline for the day is running out, and I must get some sleep because tomorrow is another day of school (yay!) and John is already sleeping. Thanks for reading all of this rambling nonsense, but I find it very therapeutic! More to come later as our adventure continues! I hope everyone had a great day! How could you not?! It was 8-9-10. I love things like that! Also, Happy Birthday to my dear aunt Sally! :)
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