In case you aren't a follower on Twitter or a Facebook friend (become one, please!), you may not know that this previous Thursday, March 17, 2011, was the biggest day of Sharon's and my life to date. She says most of this better here, so skip all this and just read her post if you wish.
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The best worst-kept secret of the last few years of our lives has been the brilliance of Sharon's medical school career and, consequently, the likelihood that our time in Birmingham was numbered. This suspicion grew with each well-deserved and hard-earned academic accolade that came Sharon's way. The first real indication that this just got real came the night I picked her up from the airport after her interview at Columbia back in November, when she breathlessly exclaimed to her incredulous husband that Columbia- everything about it: the program, the people, New York freaking City- was perfect for her. Weeks and months of interviews and trips passed, and each suitor fell short of the high bar set by Columbia, and we were then irreversibly sucked into the maddening pull of oncoming inevitability mixed with the requisite uncertainty and anxiety that characterizes the Match process. (Actually, though, once Sharon completed all of her interviews and submitted her rank list [with Columbia atop it], there wasn't much for us to do but wait.) The past week leading up to Thursday was genuinely some of the longest days of my life or so it seemed.
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It felt like such a big and wild secret to have been harboring, that we had the intention of leaving Birmingham, that I would leave a stable and great job, and that we would uproot ourselves and go North to "the big city." And it now feels surreal that this idea of our future that we'd been hiding- unsure of how exactly to compose ourselves but fairly certain that we shouldn't publicize our intentions before it was confirmed where we were headed- is now out in the open. The catharsis washed over the moment I caught Sharon's eye as she emerged from the back room onto the stage at Match Day; her huge smile and thumbs-up (secret pre-determined hand signal!) said it all before she announced it to the world. We're moving to New York? We're moving to New York! And to that end, it's like a great weight was lifted from my shoulders; that we get to move to New York City feels like icing on the cake.
I made the announcement last Friday at work via an email. It was strange seeing the words spill out of my fingers onto the screen:
I am writing to tell you of some exciting news about my family. As many of you know, my wife Sharon is a student at the University Of Alabama School Of Medicine at UAB. She will graduate this May with an MD. Yesterday, March 17, was “Match Day”, when medical school seniors across the country find out where they will conduct their residency training. Sharon matched at Columbia University’s New York Presbyterian Hospital, one of the nation’s top programs for Internal Medicine Residency training. She begins her residency in June.
This exciting news, however, also means that I will be leaving Southern Company around the middle of May and moving with Sharon to New York City. I want to take this opportunity to tell you all how much I have enjoyed and have been privileged to work with you. I have learned a great deal and have gained invaluable experience during my time here- it has made an indelible impression upon my career. I will leave with an immense respect for this company as well as for the great people, particularly those in Transmission Planning, with whom I’ve worked. There is still some time left before we go, so this isn’t yet a farewell, but I wanted to let you know about this news now that it is official.
Everyone at work has been so supportive and encouraging. Not that I could seriously have expected otherwise. But after having bottled this up for so long, it was an incredible relief to spill the beans and be so graciously received by my coworkers and managers. I have been blessed by this job, as this week has so starkly reminded me.
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It's all so thrilling. And terrifying. We fell in love with New York City when we first visited together but never in either of our wildest dreams thought we might one day live there. I know New York City has its own, different reality and challenges- but we're two married, childless professionals in the prime of our youth: when better to take it on? When my head isn't spinning trying to balance the logistics of downsizing and moving our things to a smaller living space alongside the task of finding a job... I feel like we're on top of the world.
Overused as the phrase may be, we are so ready for this new adventure.
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*Yeah, so Sharon beat me to the punch on the title. Sticking with it, though.
I love you guys. So excited!!!!!
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