I am getting old ...

I'm having a hard time believing several things today. One, it's September. Two, I have been back from DC for over a month now. Three, I started AmeriCorps five years ago. Four, I celebrated my ten-year high school class reunion this weekend. Five, I really like psychiatry. And six, I somehow let my mother convince me that I need to temporarily "own" a cat, my sister Katelyn's cat she named Data for reasons that are unclear to me at this time. My mother, however, calls him AC, short for Attack Cat. That lets you know just about how much fun I'm having with him in the two hours he's been in my condo. He did do remarkably well on the road trip over here, but in crawling from the back of the driver's seat to the dashboard to my lap, he somehow managed to catch his collar in my earring. Now, that was interesting ... cruising along at 75 mph with a cat attached to my earlobe.

So, points one and two above are as they are. Time just seems to fly by for me --- and for everybody else. It just boggles my mind at times.

Point number three was brought to my attention when my friend Hilary (from AmeriCorps) visited over the weekend! So much fun! When I started medical school, Hilary introduced me to her friend Jill that she went to college at Wash U with in St. Louis ... who now is one of my best friends in Iowa City! Hilary had never been to IC before, so it was fun to show her around and eat out at favoriate IC haunts ... including the one and only Hamburg Inn! Who knew sweet potato pancakes and peach pie ice cream shakes could be so good? Trust me for sure on the latter ...


Point number four ... what?!? It's been ten years already!? Again, hard to believe. Nonetheless, it turned out to be a very fun weekend --- my classmates and their spouses (and I, sans spouse) met at Apple Basket, a restaurant in Montezuma, on Saturday night. Sunday afternoon was the "family day" ... my friends Eric and Faye hosted all of us at their pond and picnic area at Co-Line Welding. It was a lot of fun to see all of my friends' kids play with one another --- and to see how much they look like their parents! We couldn't have asked for better weather ...









Point five is true! I have thoroughly enjoyed my psychiatry rotation for several reasons ... one, my attendings have been very helpful and great teachers. Two, I get to sit and talk to patients for hours on end. And three, several of the issues in health care that I care about, such as where and how you live and what you experienced growing up, mean EVERYTHING in psychiatry. The sad and frustrating part is that for some patients, we are unable to help them in any way. But, I suppose, this is the same for many other areas of medicine as well.

Point six ... the cat. At present, I don't know where he is. I just went looking and calling for him. I am certain he is IN my house ... I just don't know where. At the time being, however, my house is still a mess from moving, and he could be anywhere ... and going to the BATHROOM anywhere! That'll be a deal breaker right there. Hopefully, he's just napping and now using my furniture or clothing for clawing practice. The funniest part of this cat business was seeing how fast my mother ran in to the house to get his things when I said I'd take him short-term ... my dad says I may never see her run that fast again!