March 20, 2015 is a big day for me. Only a handful of people know that today marks two years in my relationship with my iPhone 4S. That means if I drop my phone and it finally shatters into a million pieces, I can get a free or heavily discounted phone simply by renewing my contract. The first year and a half of my phone were pretty smooth sailing, but I have had scares over the past few months where I was uncertain my phone would even turn back on when I shut it off. Now, I don't have to worry as much about being saddled with the cost of a new phone under contract if something else happens. Phew.
A few more people in my life, particularly my Facebook friends, are aware that I. Love. College. Basketball. I learned many life lessons from watching North Carolina State games, particularly basketball, with my dad, but that's a discussion for another day. After yesterday's games, March Madness is well under way, which is an exciting time for me, especially as competition heats up among my co-workers and me with our bracket picks. My big game yesterday was the NCSU/LSU game, which was a battle of my dad's alma mater and RWD's parents' alma mater. Living in Louisiana, I was definitely in the minority, and things were not looking good for the Wolfpack for...well, most of the game. I was nervous at times and annoyed at others, but most of all, I just hated the uncertainty. NC State did manage to pull out a win in the last few seconds of the game, and there was much shouting and rejoicing in front of my television.
As I fought to fall sleep last night after the game (err, this morning...about five hours ago, really) I thought about another North Carolina and Louisiana face-off in my life that will be resolved before the next time I sleep: The Match. I haven't blogged much about my relationship with RWD, mainly because I have not made the time to sit down and transfer my "How to Make Your Wedding a Perfect, Magical, Expensive Hot Mess" series from brain to blog. (Look forward to that.) RWD is a medical student, and he will graduate in May and go...somewhere for residency. For months, medical students around the world have been applying and interviewing for residency spots, and RWD is among them. He has been fairly fortunate in that he found out early on that he has a guaranteed spot--well, as "guaranteed" as they come--in Shreveport, where he already lives and has worked. This has proved to be a blessing and a curse.
Throughout that whole process, I have been answering what feels like a million questions about where we will be next year, if I will move with RWD, and what I will do about my job. While I appreciate the genuine interest of others, sometimes it's just tiring to explain the match process, RWD's thoughts, my thoughts, and the fact that I don't have a whole lot of control over the situation. Next time I wake up (Lord willing!) I will finally have answers to many of these questions. I am so excited.
On Monday, the medical students were able to find out if they matched (if they have a residency spot) for the upcoming year. For many, this means they have a place in one of twenty or more hospitals they interviewed with; they could be anywhere in the upcoming year. For RWD and me, Monday was not a huge deal because of what we already knew about Shreveport. Today, however, we will finally learn which city we'll be in starting in just a few months.
Whereas I have wanted to move to North Carolina since before I even knew RWD existed, RWD has plenty of things he loves about Shreveport and the opportunities there. He has also spent his life and education on what he refers to the "I-20 corridor" in northern Louisiana. Living in Louisiana for nearly five years, I have grown close to the state and definitely love it here (I talk about that in the Louisiana Marathon post that has yet to make it from brain to blog), but I do think it's healthy to try something new from time to time. My friend J told me over lunch in the cafeteria one day, "Louisiana will still be here if you want to come back." With all of the delicious food and fun people (seriously, it's no mystery why our state is fat), I could see myself wanting to return. Before he submitted a ranked list of residency programs last month, RWD and I had one of the longest and most in-depth conversations we have ever had, and the result was that a small program in Greensboro, North Carolina topped the ranking list. While this was an honest conversation and one that was extremely frustrating at times, it was definitely one that needed to happen if RWD wanted me to honestly feel like I had some input and control over the situation. I recognize that not all fiances are as accommodating as RWD has been and certainly appreciate his openness to my desires through this process.
As the clock approached 1:00 am that night (because all important conversations should happen at that time), RWD finally said, "No matter where we end up, we'll be there together, and that's what matters." Of course this is true, but it can be easy to lose sight of that fact when the next three years of your life are being determined. There is also the component of this whole thing that puts much of our fate in the hands of computers and an algorithm that is well beyond my knowledge but seems to be most closely related to the "Mutual Selection Process" for Panhellenic sorority recruitment.
Between my phone, post-season basketball tournaments, and my future husband, there has been a whole lot of uncertainty lately, but much of it will be resolved in just a few short hours.
And that, my friends, is just a glimpse of Match Madness.
