White Coat Ceremony

Near the end of first semester, I had a White Coat Ceremony to mark the moment we received our "doctorate coat." It really was quite exciting as it seemed to make the whole "I'm in a doctorate program at freaking Emory University" feeling a bit more real and not so dream-like. Then to make it even better, my mom told me after the ceremony that the church we were in was the church that she and my dad got married in. Amazing how life creates little circles that connect the past and present. 

My girls, minus a couple.

"For there will be days of joy

For there will be elevators of elation

and you will walk triumphantly

in purest joy

along the halls of the hospital

and say Yes to all the dark corners

where no one is listening

For the heart will lead

For the head will explain

but the final common pathway is the heart

whatever kingdom may come

For what matters finally is how the human spirit is spent

For this is the day of joy

For this is the morning to rejoice

For this is the beginning

Therefore, let us rejoice"

- Excerpt from "Gaudeamus Igitur" by John Stone, MD 

(inside the program for Martha's white coat ceremony)

Me and my everyone-thinks-she-is-my-sister roommate,
who is at Emory as a med student.

 

A weekend later, 

the roles reversed as we celebrated Martha's white coat.

In 2.5 years for me and 3.5 for Martha,
our jackets will change as we get to add on little letters to the ends of our names

and we'll politely request you call us Doctor.
Crazy as it seems that I'm here,
I am pumped to see where it all leads,
and as the poem simply says,
"For this is the beginning

therefore, let us rejoice."

So we will!