Remembering the Good in 2016

Well, it's that time of year: time to unload my Rememberlutions Jar. Not only is having a place to store positive memories from the year a good habit to make, but the jar itself is a reminder of the years I spent studying and making friends in Grad Study at the Wesley Foundation in graduate and medical school. In 2015, I stored memories related to the last two years of medical school such as good grades and comments from preceptors, as well as experiences I had at the theater (fun, beautiful) or traveling (memorable, meaningful). 2016 included many more arts & culture moments, as well as big life changes. Here they are, in the order I pulled them out of the jar. Click the links for blog posts or websites.

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The first slip I drew out was the note Dear Husband left me one night when he had gone off to choir practice before I had gotten home from the hospital.

Next was my PACE Palette score card from Pediatric Intern Retreat. Our class had gathered at Cheat Lake, WV, to learn more about ourselves and each other, such as the fact that I am the most analytical, curious person in the class but not as methodical or organized as I like to think I am. Later I posted what DH and I learned about our marriage that weekend.

Ticket to see "Mark Twain Tonight! Starring Hal Holbrook" at the end of April. I had bought us seats to surprise DH, but he spent the night in the hospital getting chemotherapy, so I took a mutual friend. Getting to see Hal Holbrook as Mark Twain is one of the many things cancer stole from him/us in 2016.

Invitation to K.T. and A.S.'s wedding in Knoxville, TN, also in April. My in-laws stayed with DH that weekend so I could get away and enjoy myself. Best of all, I got to stay with friends R. & M.K. on the way down and meet up with J.R. for the shindig.

Ticket to hear U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor with J.S. We were lucky enough to score extra press seats way up front. [March]

"My senior resident's delight the day I finished my progress notes before noon." He actually jumped up and hugged me. Unfortunately, the day ended on a sour note, as I got a late admission and ended up staying way after sign out.

"Matching to UPMC in Med Peds." [March]

"DH's 10th doctor-versary and my 2nd. 3/17/16." As luck would have it, we both defended our dissertations on March 17, eight years apart.

Ticket to watch The Grand Budapest Hotel at the Virginia Theater. That was late May, still in chemo season, and a friend came to stay with DH so I could leave the house without worrying about him.

"Snuggling in bed reading together (after laughing uproariously!)" [???]

Ticket to see the San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in June.

"O in Medicine and Society." I'm particularly pleased with the presentation I made on "Medicine on T.V."

Ticket to see the Miami Marlins beat the Pittsburgh Pirates in August.

Stickers that read "Delilah" and "Butch Cassidy" from a pre-show ice-breaker at a Wordplay performance at the Bricolage Theater. I found my "Samson," but DH never found his "Sundance Kid."

"The sky from the workroom on 12N. The first time the patient in 1260 smiled her toothless smile at me." She was a cantankerous, manipulative cirrhosis patient, and I had just combed her hair, about which she was very vain.

"Driving to my continuity clinic in Turtle Creek along the river and through the green."

Cover of the program for "Flight: Songs of Migration," a beautiful, moving performance by Amasong, the Lesbian/Feminist Chorus. DH was in the hospital the first time, so I went with A.S. to hear friend R. sing a solo.

"Bath time with DH." While undergoing chemo, he sometimes had a good hour in the evening, when I sat him in the tub (by candlelight when his eyes were sensitive) to bathe him.

Good, old-fashioned
collective action.

Ticket stub from Loving. [December]

Receipt from attending the Winter Flower Show and Light Garden at the Phipps Conservatory, a rare work-night date with DH after starting internship.

"O in Pulmonology."

"Found a woman's wedding ring outside the gym after the snow melted." I believe the staff were able to help me reunite it with her.

"Having D.W. for dinner and playing baseball Scrabble." He and I also took a daytrip to Covington to go antiquing one Saturday.

A sticker name tag from a residency applicant dinner. DH and I are suckers for free food and like the company, too.

Ticket to see Rogue One with my brother-in-law's family over Christmas 2016.

"Paid off the Turquoise Torpedo."

The cap off a bottle of Jones Soda that reads inside: "Your efforts will be well rewarded. Be patient."

"[The Pediatric Clerkship Director/My boss] complimented me on my TA leadership."

"Selling our house! 3/23/16"

"Fixed the toilet." Surely there's a line for that on a C.V.

Ticket to watch the Moscow Festival Ballet perform Don Quixote. That was back in January, and I honestly cannot remember a thing about it. I'd like to think I enjoyed it at the time.

Sweet mini-card from J.R. when she sent my Halloween earrings.

Ticket to Finding Dory, which we saw for my birthday this year. [July]

"Getting DH's scans back--times two!" This must be his negative CT and PET scans in August.

Another interview dinner name tag.

"Today I drove a metal spike into an old lady's spine with a hammer." ~The most audacious thing I did in medical school was perform a (supervised) kyphoplasty during my Pain Medicine rotation.

"Exchanging pickle phones with [the acting intern] to talk about our patients at just the right moment." We were fielding questions on each other's patients.

"Celebrating our Steel Anniversary in the Steel City." [August]

"O in Pain Management (Surgery II)."

Another note left by DH with dinner.

"Took apart and fixed the refrigerator/freezer."

"Walking in Frick Park."

"The trees and bushes heavy with snow as we drove to see Allegiance in the theater." [December]

Ticket to see Sinfonia da Camera perform The Mikado. [March]

Ticket to see "Opening Night," DH's last performance at the Virginia Theater with The Chorale. [New Year's Eve 2015]

Ticket stub from Sherlock, the holiday special that aired in theaters in January 2016.

And finally, tucked under the jar, my program for Back to the Future with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra playing the soundtrack. [July]

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Not mentioned: Walking with CureSearch to raise money for pediatric cancer research (top left photo).

The love and support we got through DH's CaringBridge site while he was undergoing cancer treatment.

Oh yeah, and I graduated from medical school in 2016, too, but somehow between the family visiting, house packing, chemo, and celebrating, I forgot to put it on a slip of paper in my Rememberlutions Jar. (Instead, I've got a fancy piece of paper framed and hanging on our living room wall.)