A Smooth Sea Never Made A Skilled Sailor

I haven't posted publicly on here since November. It's been a hard year in so many ways. But I thought it was time to give a little update. Long story short, the past year of medical school year didn't turn out the way we had hoped. Yet, we move forward. (Hence the title of this post.) We decided that the lecture discussion learning style (offered at LECOM in Erie) will be a better fit for Cameron than the problem based learning pathway (offered at LECOM at Seton Hill).

We moved out of our little house in Jeannette, PA and moved up to Erie, PA just a week ago or so. I loved our little duplex. It wasn't the most efficient house, but it sure had a lot of character. It was a 1930's era home. I sometimes wonder what the house saw and lived though. The Great Depression, a World War, and each of the unique decades after that! It was an old house, and it had it's own unique set of issues. but it was a fun place to spend our year near Pittsburgh. Our town, Jeannette, kind of had a bad wrap, but we kept to ourselves, and never really had any major problems. I mean . . . we lived in Philly the year before that . . . so we're pretty much hood-rats now, right? (Only kidding. We adored East Falls, and it was a super nice neighborhood.) Likewise, I really enjoyed the atmosphere that the Pittsburgh area had to offer. From what I experienced, there were a lot of strong cultural traditions, good people, and TONS of Steeler pride. I wouldn't mind ending up in Pittsburgh again someday. Maybe not Jeannette, but the general Pittsburgh area? Sure!!!

As much as I hate moving. I LOVE finding places to live. I like homes. I like picking a new place to "hang my hat." House Hunters? This Old House? Yes. I thought I might as well share some photos of where we were in Jeannette, and where we live now. Our house in Jeannette really was a special kind of place. One of my favorite things about the house? It's bathroom. It kind of gave me this art-deco vibe. If you were looking for evidence that this house was from the 30's look no further.

One extra perk the house had? Can I say laundry shoot?!? The upstairs layout was a little weird. There were 3 bedrooms.  The bedroom on the bottom right was Cameron's study room. Then, there were another 2 bedrooms (see photo on the bottom left). However, you had to walk through one of the bedrooms in order to get to the "master." Probably a little weird if you have grown kids or adults living with you, but, we thought this would be a perfect nursery if we ended up having a baby. It's been just shy of a year, and there's been no such luck on that front. Can I just say it? It's been a loonng year! I might write more about this later, but for now let's move on to Erie.

Erie. There are a lot of things I love about Erie already, and a few things I'm afraid of. (Negative 25 degree weather, anyone? Lake effect? No thanks!) However, I think the summers here must compensate for the hellish winters. The lake is beautiful. We decided to have a date night on Presque Isle last night, before the school year gets too crazy. A rain storm was about to come in, so there weren't many people braving the beach. We stopped to get burgers and onion rings at Sara's diner. The burgers were so delicious! (Or maybe I really am just a sucker for any kind of cheeseburger!) I convinced Cameron to let us get a milkshake too. I'm starting to develop a tiny bit of lactose intolerance . . . so Cameron, being the medicals student that he is, is trying to get me to limit my intake. But I'm sure glad he caved!

Erie has a TON more local food joints to try. I'm so excited. Plus, guys, there's a Wegman's here!

We found the Presque Isle lighthouse! It was SUPER windy, enough for the sand to pretty much exfoliate your legs.

As hard as moving is . . . and this whole situation in general, there are some silver linings that help. I feel like LECOM/osteopathic medicine is much better understood here than it was in the Pittsburgh area. LECOM owns a senior living center, a wellness center, the dental student provide cheap dental services, and the school is unique in the sense that the local hospital in Erie actually started the university, so of course, there are great ties with the hospital. The campus in Pittsburgh didn't have access to any cadavers or lab, but here they have a great cadaver and microbiology lab. I'm hopeful that by putting in more work through doing this year again, Cameron will be better prepared for the boards and *fingers crossed* get the GPA he needs to score some great rotation sites. (GPA? Yes. LECOM is one of the FEW med schools that actually uses the A-B-C-D system. Most of the US medical schools are on a simple honors/pass/fail system.)

One HUGE silver lining is that we somehow hit the jackpot in housing. LECOM owns 50+ houses in the Erie area that they rent out to students for super cheap. We had heard that usually there is a long wait-list, and people sometimes spend years trying to get off of it. I had Cameron give them a call anyway, and they got back to us a little while later. Not only would they work with us, but we even had options! It was a great blessing. I think the weird timing played to our advantage . . . we were so late in the student rush for housing. Also the fact that we were currently without housing played to our advantage as well. 

We are so close to LECOM, that Cameron can walk home for lunch and back if he wants to! After 3 years of marriage . . . I now have a dishwasher in my home! I know that's totally a first world problem, and I feel a little stupid mentioning it, but it's things like this that are helping to keep me upbeat. Plus, living so close to school frees up the car so that I can use it when I find a job. (Being unemployed is not my favorite. Moving every year for the past year isn't the best resume builder . . . but we move on.) Did I mention we have hydrangeas in our backyard?

I hear people sometimes complain that blogs and social media only showcase the happy times. Maybe that's why I've been so quiet on this blog for so long. I felt like if I were to post something it would be a bit "Debby-downer." But I know that the hard times are probably when we grow the most. And how do I need to grow!

I've struggled a little with understanding my purpose lately. I told Cameron recently that I felt that I had no purpose right now. I'm not a mother, my job (at the time I was at the chocolate factory still) isn't super important in the grand scheme of things. I'm hopeful that I can find a job here in Erie that would allow me to use my degree . . . but I'm learning, I think, that my field is a difficult one in which to find work.

Cameron is wise though. Of course, one of my purposes is to love and support him (and I'm not always the best at that), but we also know that one of the reasons we are here on earth is to learn. Suffering is part of that learning process.

I keep thinking back to a quote my mission president shared with me during a rough part of my mission. I think of it almost daily lately. God doesn't waste our trials.

I looked up the quote more fully the other day. It was even more beautiful than I remembered.

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.”

—Orson F. Whitney, quoted by Spencer W. Kimball, in Faith Precedes the Miracle (1972), 98