Celebrating Andy and “Our” residency graduation

The past three weeks we’ve got to celebrate Andy in a number of ways. First with the military graduation, then with father’s day, civilian residency graduation, and finally his last day as a resident. He was the last third year to work, which was probably due to the fact that he was one of four that was staying in the area and two of those four were chiefs so they had a four shift reduction and finished quite a bit earlier than the rest of the residents. It was kind of a pain in the butt for Andy to have to go back to work as a resident after graduation, but he said in a way he was glad he was the third year to ”pass the torch” on to the incoming years. We were sad to say goodbye to many of our resident friends and their wives, especially Hope and Stephen Ingle, Catherine and Brad Tait, and Lucas Miller. Andy finished his last shift at midnight. We celebrated by watching our favorite show together and reminiscing. (Mostly it was just a miracle I stayed up that late to see him home from his last shift). I was grateful to be able to celebrate with him for all of these occasions, especially father’s day. Andy chose to spend part of his fathers day helping me get a meal ready for one of his friends who was having a rough time and driving it across town to him. This is just a small example of the man he is. He is always looking to serve— at home, at work, wherever he is needed he is quick to respond and willing to help. For further pics from these occasions, check out my instagram.

We were also able to squeeze in a lot of celebrating Max’s birthday. Aside from the movie we posted about last time, we took him to dinner at Red Lobster. He was so excited to have lobster and to eat at a restaurant (if we ever get food outside the home, we usually do takeout, because dragging four kids to a restaurant isn’t my idea of a good time). He enjoyed it so much that when they brought him ice cream for his birthday he said, ”Beverly and Maverick can have it, the lobster was my dessert.” The final celebration for Max was a birthday pool and gaming party. His friends came over to our neighborhood pool for pizza, cake, and snow cones and ended the afternoon playing games at our house. It couldn’t have fit Max’s personality more perfectly. His friends were fun, polite and not too rambunctious so it was my kind of a birthday party too.

Max is a delight to have around. He is always helping with his younger siblings, loves to learn how to cook new things, and very rarely complains about helping me out with chores. His mind works a million miles a minute, with never ending questions about how things work and new ideas of things to make and create. I’m grateful he is more independent and helpful, but sometimes I wish time would slow down a bit, because he is growing up way too fast for me.

I am so grateful residency is over. I am so proud of Andy and all he accomplished and endured (especially during the start and peak of COVID). Our kids were resilient and understanding of how tired and busy their dad was and we all made the most of the time we had with him when he was home. It was one of the most refining moments of our marriage and family and though it was exhausting, at times daunting and seemingly never ending, it truly made us better as individuals and as a family. I have recently made a new friend who said, ”My husband and I like you guys so much because you like each other.” I said, “Oh we’re not a perfect couple, we have our moments, but we’ve overcome those moments and come out stronger.” And she replied, ”I can see that, and that’s what I love.” A lot of times in life we try to avoid the hard things, because they seem like ”a lot of work” or painful, but those things bring about the most good in our lives, if we let them.