Then and Now

Today after church we attended the White Coat Ceremony at Saint Louis University for the incoming first year medical students. This was also the first year they honored the recipients of the Arnold Gold Humanism Award - which Kevin received. I wish I had a copy of the speech given to explain exactly what this award entails. In a nut shell, it is "the quest for humanism despite the rigors of medical training" - putting into practice the ideals you learn about in the classroom. It was really neat and a much bigger deal than we realized previously. To receive this award means you become a member of an honor society. This membership is based on several characteristics that your peers have observed you exemplify. Some of those characteristics that she listed were a willingness to risk, stand up for what you believe in and put others above yourself. I think my favorite qualifier is that Kevin's fellow students had to pick people, they each voted for 3 students, who they would want to have as their doctors some day. To me, that says a lot coming from a group of people who are training to be physicians themselves and learning and observing everyday what it is to be a "good" doctor or a mediocre doctor. Anyway, enough bragging about my husband - he just works so hard, oftentimes without recognition. We were proud to be there with him! Several good friends he has made over the past three years also received the award, so that was neat. Those who received the award got to help "Cloak" the incoming students in their white coats. Peter listened through the whole program and even fell asleep for Mom - a huge feat after sitting through three hours of church right before. He and Jillian DID have three poopy diapers between them though just during the duration of the program. Hopefully we weren't too distracting to the folks around us!

Kevin's own White Coat Ceremony seems so long ago, even though it has only been three years! Who knew at the time what the future would hold for us? We've come a long way as a family! Two kids and one gold pin on the lapel later...