My top 10 from 2017.

Shown above: real life picture of me wanting to be a doctor circa 2004. The interesting thing is that my real life white coat and scrubs look this baggy still...

As we wrap up 2017, I feel compelled to summarize this year as we've had just an enormous amount of change happen in our lives. I told Parker, too, that 2017 is a very significant year for me. No, it wasn't the fact that we moved to another state after having lived my entire life in Kentucky. It wasn't the fact that this was the first year I started earning a real paycheck.

Being the insane, neurotic planner that I am, I had a life plan for myself. Not like a stereotypical life plan of being married by the time I was 25 or something. I had taken the time to calculate all the years of school required to finally reach my pinnacle of personal achievement: becoming a doctor (I could almost swear, too, that I said anesthesiologist at the time but I can't be sure). My earliest memory of this moment was maybe 6th grade. I'm sure I was talking to Kirsten about this as we were excited about starting "junior high" (LOL) and how we couldn't believe we were going to leave Holy Name after 8th grade in 2005. Next would come high school graduation in 2009. College in 2013. Then med school graduation by 2017. Then I would be a doctor. Done. That's all, folks! Legitimately, I planned my life up until a few days from now, and then I will be entering (what I consider) unchartered territory. Yikes.

So, let's revisit some highlights from this last year in my pre-written, premeditated state of life:

1. Time spent hanging in an Eno with some of your best friends is highly undervalued.
2. Also undervalued: having two usable legs.
3. It's surprisingly okay to let your future be determined by a computer algorithm.
4. That said, there is nothing more exhilarating than opening an envelope that suddenly determines your future.
5. Moving to a new state is hard. Knowing no one and having to make new friends is even harder.
6. Speaking of moving, packing up even the tiniest apartment is really hard (especially with only one usable leg). The feeling of throwing away old things is so rewarding, though.
7. I've not experienced anything more scary or difficult than being (essentially) alone in the hospital responsible for 90+ patients. I've also never experienced anything so rewarding to drive home the next morning knowing no one died or got hurt under my watch.
8. Birthdays in residency mean kind friends who aren't even working bring you cakes to the hospital because you're on call. They also mean someone brings you a hot cocoa at 3am in the burn unit because you're swamped, and they only stay briefly because you have to finish filling out a death certificate. They also need to leave quickly because they, too, have a death certificate to complete.
9. Sometimes choosing spending time with people you love can be even more energizing than an extra few hours of sleep - even during an 80 hour work week.
10. Life is extra sweet when things go according to plan. But there are enough Hallmark Christmas movies out there to teach everyone the obvious lesson that that's not how things tend to pan out.

Cheers to 2017, everyone. Here's to seeing what 2018 will bring!