July 4th is an insanely special day in my house. Not only is it America’s birthday AND my father in law’s birthday, but it is ALSO the day I married the man of my dreams! I know it sounds so corny when I say that and I feel corny writing it but bear with me. It’s my anniversary so I get to be a little cheesy right?! In the tradition of writing a post each year (see my 1 year wedding anniversary + Nestldown revisit here), I wanted to take a little bit of time to jot down some of my thoughts this year.
M and I met the summer of 2012, after I had spent six months in NYC doing a rotation at NBC News in the medical unit. I was gearing up to go into third year of medical school, meaning getting ready for intense and grueling rotations in core clerkships like medicine and surgery. I had at that time decided to buckle down and focus on my studies; finding a husband was definitely not at the top of my priority list! My hubby, who is born and raised on the East Coast, was moving to California from NYC as well. He grew up in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, spent 8 years in Boston for undergrad and PhD, and then 4 years in NYC doing management consulting, so he was ready for a change of scenery. My roommate in medical school was getting married to his consulting coworker. We met at the wedding, the first weekend that M moved to the West Coast, and the rest is history. I had never met anyone like M, and I just remember feeling disbelief that someone so wonderful wanted to date ME! We were married two years later by his father, a Methodist bishop, at Nestldown, the most magical venue I can imagine, a redwood forest wonderland in the Santa Cruz mountains.
The first year after marriage I was an internal medicine intern, meaning I worked six days a week, usually over 60 hours a week. I was hangry (hungry plus angry), tired, sometimes I’ll admit irritable, and overworked most of the time. M had to spend most weekends alone since my one day off a week was usually on a weekday when he was working. (Funny aside, he loves Chinese food and he went to Chef Chu’s in our neighborhood every weekend for a whole year. When he finally brought me one day, all the wait staff was so smiley and relieved because they had been feeling sorry for him that he was single all this time!) Despite the challenges of intern year, M was an amazing spouse, so patient and kind and loving and always supporting me through every roadblock I came across. He was my biggest cheerleader, sharing with me my victories and holding me and handing me tissues when intern year broke me down. He was my rock through the emotional roller coaster that comes with being a physician in the Intensive Care Unit, where you face death daily and interact with and touch families at their most vulnerable emotional states. Shocked that I used to eat frozen TV dinners when I got busy, M became my own personal chef, meal planning in advance and rationing portions so I could have something to eat every night when I got home. He took care of everything so that I could come home to a clean house with a healthy meal, despite the fact that he worked over sixty hours per week at his own job in a tech start up too. I don’t think I could have made it through intern year as happy or healthy as I did without M by my side, making sure everything else in my life went smoothly so I could focus on my world in the hospital.
This year in NYC, our second year of marriage, has been such a blessing. We said goodbye to our condo in California, our family friends and coworkers, and moved to NYC. We have made a whole new community for ourselves here and for the first time in both of our lives, we work REGULAR hours! We actually have free time after work and on the weekends to spend time together and it has been amazing. I am continuously amazed by M’s kindness, his patience, his dedication to his loved ones, and how he always makes me feel so very much loved and so special.
I never thought I would find someone like M, and for much of my life I didn’t think I deserved someone like him. He has taught me through example what it means to truly love and care for another person. Through him I see why love is a verb, shown through actions not words alone. He makes me want to be a better person every single day.
So happy 2nd anniversary to my best friend, my rock, my husband!
(And just because it’s a special day, here is a link to our wedding video 🙂
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