The News That Had Us
Jumping For Joy
(until it had us sitting in a moving truck for 25 hours)
(Benson and Jeff)
So this blog will be written by a guest author. (The Husband of the lovely Amber, Jeff Shirts) The usual
author will be back soon.
So a few weeks I found out that I was accepted to the
University of Washington School of Medicine. That was a huge relief because now
I knew that one way or another I was going to be a doctor in the near future.
The problem was the way. There were a few different ways that it could
theoretically happen. I could go with UW and be happy with it, or I could wait
to hear from the University of Utah, which was not slated to give their answer
till the end of March/ beginning of April. But either way I was going to be a
physician so I was not going to worry too much about it.
Or so I thought.
What the ladies like to do to relax. They talked me into it :)
Baskin Robins Ice Cream
This worry began at the 2 interviews that I was granted.
Before going to the interview at the U of U I did NOT want to stay in Utah. I
wanted out as fast as possible, and anywhere was good enough. Then I went and
fell in love with the campus and the program. Go figures. UW on the other hand
was always at the top of my list in some form or another. Then I finally got an
interview with UW, and I was not the biggest fan of the program, campus (The
Health Sciences building in particular. The rest of campus is GORGEOUS!), or
the attitude that some of the people I interacted with. It was too, " You
have to be a primary care physician and stay in Idaho the rest of your life",
and that is not necessarily what I want to be dictating my future. Amber and I
both felt the same way when we were driving home after the interview, and we
just expected to make the decision when it came time, at least a month.
Well we were wrong. 4 days later, while watching the Oscars
on a Sunday evening, we noticed that my email said (notification, not reminiscent
of chick flick or AOL) that I had a new message. I opened it up and it read as
follows:
"Jeffery,
Congratulations on being selected to be part of the 2014 Idaho WWAMI class! I really hope you choose to come to UWSOM, and if there are any questions that I can answer for you, please don’t hesitate to contact me. My cell is listed below.
Looking forward to seeing you at orientation in August!"
Well that was a shock. Now we would have to make decisions
soon, maybe. I didn't think too much about it. I was just stoked. My lifelong,
cliché dream was coming true.
CRAZY!
A few days later we boarded a plane and flew to California
for Amber's baby shower and to see Amber's mom. I was excited for 10 days of
relaxation and thinking nothing of the future, but instead focusing on sunshine
and, well, nothing else.
That changed when we decided to go to the Sacramento Temple.
(Our Little Boy At 21 weeks)
While we were there we had the impression that everything that we were doing
was the right thing and that it was all going to work out. We were both very
happy with that, but we kept on discussing what to do for med school. We
weren't set on what we were going to do so we kept talking when the topic came
up. A week later we had discussed the topic at length some more and still had
no firm decision. Well almost exactly one week later Amber and I woke up and
Amber said to me, "If we are going to go to UW, then we need to move the
stuff out of here and get the stuff from Utah on the way, and move it up to
North Idaho." I agreed with her. If we were going to go to UW then there
was no point in me coming back down after the baby was born and before school
starts to do the trip if we were already here. All we had to do was cancel our plane
tickets (Thank you Southwest), and rent a truck.
We immediately decided to
head to the temple again and find out if that is what we were supposed to do.
This was especially important because it was Wednesday and we were slated to
leave on Friday, and Judging by the title of this post, we made the decision to
go to UW. So after we got home I got on the computer and canceled our flights,
researched a moving truck, rented a truck, emailed UW confirming my acceptance,
started looking for housing in Moscow and a few other things as well. It was
probably one of the most effective uses of 2 hours I have ever had on a
computer, and when it was all done we both felt good.
Apprehensive and scared, but good.
Apprehensive and scared, but good.
Fast Forward to Monday morning. We go at 8:30 when the
rental truck place opens to get the
truck, and after some snags that needed working out with my Credit Card company
(They get suspicious when you spend over your credit limit at varying places
all over the world. But when you are trying to plan a trip to Europe and a move
from Lodi, CA all while living in Idaho, it is easy to look like a fraudster I
guess.), getting 30 minutes of help to load the truck ( all you need when you
are newly married), and double checking that we had everything, we were on our
way. And boy do we have an adventure to tell you about that drive.
Riveting, I tell you. Nothing quite like it. I mean, who
wouldn't enjoy 25 hours in a truck that wants to bury itself in the shoulder
every time a gust of wind comes up, or that
gets 12MPG on a really flat stretch of freeway( a.k.a. Nevada)? Well, if you
answered no, then either A. Never move or B. Hire professionals to break, I
mean move, your stuff for you. Oh, I almost forgot. Top that little delectable
morsel of goodness I described to you with bleak and dreary landscapes especially Sparks Nevada, you have something.
Yep. Something.
The only thing that made it better was the pregnant,
road-hauling champion. That is exactly what Amber was. A champion. She put up
with my moods, stresses and lunacy (It set in just about the time the trees disappeared
after Donner Pass. Coincidence? I think NOT!), and just kept on going. She even
read to me the sad ending of a book series (The Great And Terrible) we were reading while crying. If
that's not love, then I don't know what is.
I was really happy though because we took 3 days instead of
2 to make the drive and spent one day at my aunt Roselee's house loading the
truck and catching up with some awesome people who live in the Utah-land and
one who fortuitously happened to be there from Kansas. Way to go Kansas City
spring break! It was positively delightful.
After we arrived in Idaho we quickly unloaded the truck into
the Shirts Storage Units, and then rested. It was not the longest rest in the
world because the next day we packed up most of our stuff from Connie's house,
the house where we were living/house sitting for 3 months and added it to the
Shirts Storage Units and then finalized our plans for Europe.
And now here we are. Sitting in a flat in London, exhausted
from hours of traveling , but excited to see the world. So follow along as we
tackle Central Europe by plane, train, and automobile!
