So it’s December 23rd officially and I am sitting here taking a break from wrapping presents and doing Christmas cards. Today was perilous as I fought the throng of Christmas masses in the bowels of Hallmark and Independence Mall. Still I emerged physically in one piece while my wallet was shot to pieces by the last-minute Christmas sales. Ah the sweet smell of greenbacks floating away! I’m flat broke now. Come on school loan check, where are ya!?!?!

I had my internal medicine interview at New Hanover Regional Medical Center last Friday. I must say, the hospital has grown leaps and bounds since I was a kid, and even since I was there last December. I was not my usual perky self though since I was sick (thanks to the pediatrics rotation I just finished! ha!) and my nose kept running the entire day. I was happy to learn that a couple of my friends are currently doing residency there, namely Nick Morgan who is doing a preliminary surgery year. During the entire interview I was not asked about any medicine! None. Zero! No pimp questions at all! They really just wanted to get to know me as a person and that made me feel good inside…like it would be a place I would definitely fit in. That is not to say I am dropping Urology. On the contrary! But I also know I am in hard fought contention for one of the urology spots at CAMC and I have almost no idea how I stand in terms of that. All I can do is pray. After giving it much thought, I would very much be happy in IM at Wilmington if I didn’t get the urology residency. Maybe a little disappointed but I’ve always taken whatever life has thrown at me and made the best of it. If I am meant to be a urologist then God will place me there. If I am supposed to be in Internal Medicine (with a subsequent Cardiology felllowship or something) then I’ll end up in IM at Wilmington or CAMC. And that leads me to my next point…I’ve spent the last 3 months anguishing over the match process. Although I try not to show it, I lose sleep every night because of it. It’s the fear of not knowing where you are going to end up and what you’ll be doing for the rest of your life that is so maddening. However, I’ve prayed about it and feel at peace. Let match day come. I’ve worked long and hard to get where I’m at. I’ll let God do the rest.

Life *is* good though. I’m getting married and I’m spending Christmas with my future wife and both of our families…Though it involves about 15 hours of driving for me over a 72 hour period. Still spending a romantic Christmas Eve with Patty and then waking up, snuggled next to her Christmas morning is going to be the best present I can think of. I’ve gotten some neat Christmas stuff for her over the past 4 months. One of the items I got for her was backordered and I sweated for 2 months until I got an email that it was available again last week. I’ll try to get some pictures up of our Christmas visits in Wise and Wilmington.

And now I am very sleepy and need to get some rest. I’m *still* sick but I am feeling a little bit better since I started taking some Omnicef. Strep pneumoniae for the lose. I will leave you with a brief funny story though. In the mall tonight, I saw a 9 year old kid walking around with a pair of lacy red panties on his head. He was giggling to himself and running around like a kid on meth! 10 seconds later I see a running frantic woman running after him yelling “Terry! Terry Christopher! You take that off your head RIGHT NOW and GET BACK HERE this INSTANT!!!” I just laughed! It sounds like something I would have done as a kid…but I think I just hid from my mom in the lingerie section of a Sears once. That’s an entirely different story altogether! Maybe I should write a book about my embarrassing stories. I swear I do something funny every week ;P

Good night my friends and have a very Merry Christmas! (none of that Happy Holidays crap here!)