Match day.

This post could also be entitled: The Longest Morning Ever.

If you're a loyal reader, you'll remember that we had our first bout of match-day-anxiety back in December, when we were surprised to secure a military deferment for our residency years. Many interviews, road trips, and credit card swipes later, we got the email that told us Steve had matched! He was going to FOR SURE be a doctor... somewhere. And the next adventure was to find out where.

Last Friday we woke up with butterflies. At noon we would know. The hours passed slowly. I dragged my pathetic, morning-sick self out of bed, did my hair (gasp!) and makeup (UNHEARD OF!!!) and got dressed. Around nine we packed the kids in the car and took them to the "tailgate" in the parking lot outside the Match Day venue, where they had donuts and orange juice, spun in circles, and then were packed back into the car to be watched by Amanda (Thanks Amanda!!!) while Steve and I went to the envelope-opening/luncheon festivities.

We got back to the tailgate around 11am (which was by then buzzing with almost the entirety of Steve's graduating class and their parents/families/significant others) and ate some fruit/bagels and chatted with people about bow ties and my dad being a dentist as TIME REFUSED TO BUDGE. I am serious. It was an endless, existential experience.

At 11:45 as we were walking into the building our Arizona friends (confused by DST) called to find out where we were going.

We climbed a jam-packed set of stairs to find these unassuming tables laden with the envelopes that contained the futures of all 150 or so students in Steve's class.

They were cordoned off until exactly noon when, finalllllllllllly, everyone got to hold their fates in their (probably sweaty) hands. Like so:

He sliced that baby open and we were surprised to discover that we will be staying here in Winston for another three years!

I'll admit... at first, we were a little shellshocked. I think we had both spent so much time imagining our family in a new city/state that we hadn't really thought to entertain the idea of what life would be like staying here. And the thought of being left behind as some of our best friends moved on was more than a little disheartening.

But then the Yates came up to us and said they were staying. And the Nickles. And many of our other favorite people, like Robert, Betsy, and Becca (Becca's announcement prompted a spur-of-the-moment squealing three-way-hug that we were all very proud of). It kind of turned in to a little Wake Forest resident party in our corner of the world, and we started to get pretty excited. People we love were staying, and we had no cross-country move, no short-term settlement, no starting over trying to make new friends in a place we would only be in for three years! Woo hoo!

The luncheon was delicious (I went back for seconds and had ice cream afterwards) and we had a lot of fun catching up with people and seeing everyone stick their pins on the map to show where they would be spending the next few years.

Afterwards we all went out on the balcony for photo ops, and we hugged on people and talked to Betsy and just enjoyed the fact that it was our turn to have this day and get this far. These four years have flown by, but I still can't believe we're almost to the finish line of med school and on to the challenges and excitement of residency. Pretty happy I get to go through life with this guy. He is my favorite.

Fourth year wives! Me, Madeline McClain, Nicole Nickle, Rachel Cohen, and Christie Yates. 

Almost-doctors: Alex Nickle, Paul McClain, Steve, Kevin Keys, and Eric Yates.