15 things
1. visited new orleans, boston (2x), san francisco, nogales, zurich, basel, johannesburg, cape town, nairobi, eldoret, rome, copenhagen, asheville, charlotte
There is so much to say about each of these places, but of these Rome was the first city to which I’ve traveled alone, without local contacts, and without any agenda other than to wander. On one afternoon I wandered into a bookstore near piazza navona and struck up a conversation with an old Italian man who had been in the foreign service in china in the 1970s. He then gave me suggestions for dinner spots, and though I cant be certain I actually ended up at the restaurant he meant to suggest, it was nevertheless the best pasta I had ever tasted.
2. went on my first, second, and third safaris (Kruger, Masaai Mara, Nakuru parks) and saw giraffes, zebra, elephants, kudu, pink and white flamingos, wildebeest migrating into Tanzania, lions, leopards, birds of every color
3. spent 6 weeks in Kenya learning about global health cardiology and seeing the breadth (and limitations) of medicine
4. mark moved to new york and we got a pretty awesome apartment, convenient to school (me) and work (him) and I finally got all the stuff that had been in storage since we moved out of our last apartment in boston
5. read books but did a bad job of keeping track. some favorites included Delancey, and a book of short stories called The Weight of a Human Heart
6. after all these years of long distance and bi-coastal living, he asked me to marry him in the middle of a patch of trees in my beloved cleveland metroparks (I said yes)
7. we got a (real) christmas tree despite my ambivalence about buying a decorative object that you can only use once before needing to kick it to the cold and sad January curb more on this by Adam Gopnik
8. witnessed the moment my baby sister was admitted to my alma mater and felt ever so proud to have Duke as part of the family
11. finally got around to seeing a show on broadway (the amazing fun home) and planning to see many more in 2016
12. saw Duke win another national title in basketball
13. and then also a bowl title in football (!)
14. so much gratitude for the ongoing and incredible journey that is becoming a physician, and for all my people who keep me going when the going gets a little too heavy
15. ended the year (and began a new one) in a shower of confetti at a 1920s jazz party
here we go into 16! may we all continue to grow further, see wider, and live happier.
