Every year my mother-in-law writes a reflection letter for her family to send out to family and friends for a quick notifier of what went on through this past year. While she always types this up, prints it out, and mails it to everyone for Christmas, I thought I'd take advantage of this poorly up-kept blog of mine to write my summery of good'ol 2014.
At the beginning of this year Hannah and I were still living in Oak Park IL with Hannah still in school and in February I was starting my new internship with the Illinois Eye Bank. I would end up having this internship working in the lab doing paperwork and cell counts become a job as a recovery technician trained to procure corneas from those deceased who were generous to donate. It turned out to be a great job and one that I am certain has given me good practice for my aspiring career in dentistry.
In May we were blessed with a second nephew McDonald named Calvin! We have been super blessed towards the end of this year to be able to hang out with both of our little nephews frequently and I have really cherished the time we have spent with them and their mom & dad. Watching those two grow and learn is absolutely incredible and constantly makes me reflect on what kind of children I might bring into this world someday...... but not for awhile yet so don't get your hopes up too high!
Hannah and I spent our summer in the Chicagoland area as best we could. July became a little difficult as Hannah was put in a elective rotation in the Minneapolis while I had to stay in Chicago to work. That became a long month! But we persevered through it!
In the middle of August as we were beginning to gear up for Hannah's graduation in the very end of August and our move back to MN immediately following, I was presented with the shocking opportunity to join Paul Warneke on a delivery trip of the yacht he is employed to work on from the Galapagos Islands through the Panama Canal! And luckily the timing was literally perfect so that I could go on the trip and still make it back in time for Hannah's graduation. I had initially planned on writing a whole blog post devoted to this trip.... and of course I never got around to it! But to summarize very generally, I never left the Galapagos. Right as we were beginning to leave the engine of the ship broke down. We spent the rest of that week trying to fix the engine to no avail. By the time the captain decided the most reasonable course of action would be to hoist sail and just cruse to Panama without an engine, it was too late for me to join them. So I stayed back a night and flew back in time for Hannah's graduation from PA school!
And so Hannah graduated at the end of September. Her mom, dad, and sister were able to come down for the ceremony along with my parents. What a huge accomplishment to have made it through all those trying times, long hours, difficult faculty, and strenuous rotations! But she did it! Man, writing about this again make me so proud all over again. Anyway, we spent that weekend following enjoying family and the last things we could in Chicago, but then off we went and moved right away that following Monday back to MN!.......... and to Hannah's parents house.......
We knew we needed to get back to MN as soon as we could, but unfortunately that meant we moved back without any jobs lined up and with no jobs lined up we had no apartment lined up. It took us much longer than we expected to find jobs and as a result we are still at Hannah's parents home but will be moving over these next few days. Her parents have been incredible over the last few months with allowing us to live with them and change up their daily lives! We cannot thank them enough for their generosity and patience.
But how has been living with your parents-in-law you may ask? Well let me tell ya, it hasn't always been easy. But that's not really even so much because of them but because of other things. They don't have any internet at their house, so essentially since September I have been living without internet which has been extremely difficult! Another basic frustration has simply been the fact that I am living at their house which means its not my living space. Not being able to put things where I want them or to have all of my things out has been hard, but nothing impossible. Again, we have been extremely fortunate and we owe them big time!
In October Hannah, my father, and I were given another great opportunity granted by Paul W. Paul had to come back to the US for a course he was taking and by doing so the yacht was going to need a care taker in Panama City. Since I had just been on the boat he suggested that I should come down and watch over it until the captain arrived and then I help him take it through the Panama Canal again. Since I had not started working yet and I knew I wouldn't have to for the remainder of Oct I said I would do it but that I wanted Hannah and my dad to come with! My dad and I ended up going down a week earlier than Hannah who stayed back to finish paperwork for her license and to attend a wedding. Once again things did not go as planned! The captain ended up delaying his trip to Panama so we were unable to go through the canal.... it would seem I will never be destined to make it. But to be fair, even if the captain had made it in time the engine was never able to be fixed while we were there anyway. Over all it was a once in a life time trip even if we never set sail! We were able to sit on the deck of a beautiful yacht everyday and read! I was also planning on writing a whole blog about this trip as well..... but going back to the excuse of not having internet over the last few months its been hard to find the time! I'll post pictures eventually. Just know it was a great trip and I'm so thankful both my dad and Hannah were able to come along.
What else..... as of late I have been working for Multicare Associates at 3 of their clinics as a Medical Transcriptionist for an Endocrinologist. It's been an interesting job so far, going in with the doctor to do his charting and patient plan in live time. It's honestly not the most luxurious job in the world, but I can already tell I'm learning a lot! All the pharmacology I review daily is starting to sink in. Hopefully this will me out heading into dental school....... if I ever get in. I'm still in the running at the U of M (my #1 choice) and will hopefully hear good news at the end of January/ beginning of February. If you don't see me write anything about getting in then just know I'll be spending 2015 crying incessantly.
Hannah will be finally starting the job she has had for a few months now in the next few weeks, and I am so excited for that to finally happen! If you have not already heard, she has been hired full time in the Entira Family Clinic system as a family practice PA! It was SUCH a struggle to find a job and now has been SUCH a struggle for her to actually start, but that time is swiftly approaching. Needless to say we are both excited for that day to arrive.
Other news to top off the year with; Hannah and I are now the proud new leasers of a fine piece of GM industries, the 2014 Chevy Cruse. So far we have been pleased with it and I certain hope we continue to be for a long time! We are also in the process, beginning TODAY, of moving into our new apartment!!! FINALLY!!! We are going to have our own place again! Obviously we are thrilled, even if we do have to move all our crap in sub-optimal temperatures. We will post pictures of our new place soon, once it doesn't look like a tornado just decimated it.
Over all, 2014 went by in a blur as most years normally feel once it comes to the end. I'm sure I missed a ton of stuff that took place over the year..... but oh well I'm sure you have read enough! Thanks for reading!
