The Match!

(This is long, but there are tons of pics at the bottom if you want to skip down there.)

Unless you've gone through it yourself, it's difficult to describe the match. I will attempt to try.

Justin started interviewing for residency spots in November. It is a frustrating process because it's not like a regular job interview. In a regular job interview, you interview and you hear back in a few weeks with the job saying either, 'we like you, you're hired' or 'sorry, keep looking'. In medicine, you interview at several places and then you rank them. 1 being the place you'd most like to go, 2 being your second choice, and so on. Then, all the programs that you interviewed at rank the applicants they interviewed. 1 being the person they'd most like to hire, 2 being the person they'd like to have second, and so on. Then, all this information is entered into a computer which generates a 'match'. I don't understand the specifics of how it works or why it has to be this way, but it's been going on like this for years.

Interview season ends in January and our rank list must be submitted in February. Then we wait. And wait. And wait. We wait for two things. The email that tells us whether we matched or not (we got that on Monday, and were very happy to find out that we DID, in fact, match), and then the big day itself - MATCH DAY!

In the days leading up to today (Match Day), Justin and I haven't been sleeping well. There's been a lot of anxiety, excitement, nerves, and panic attacks. Justin and I have been having a lot of 'what if' conversations. Basically, it's like waiting for Christmas when you're a little kid. You get nervous excitement in your gut because you know something amazing is about to happen and you, almost literally, cannot wait!

The closer we got to match day, the more anxious I became. I tried to keep myself busy with little things (I don't think my house has ever been cleaner). I tried reading books (I read pretty fast, but I think I set a new record). Basically, I was doing anything I could to keep my mind off of the upcoming match. Nothing worked.

Last night I woke up at 4 a.m. and was unable to go back to sleep. I was too excited. This morning seemed to drag on and on! I swear, one hour felt like 5! Justin and I kept checking the time. We'd swear that 30 minutes had passed only to discover that it'd only been 5.

Finally, it was time for us to go pick Clayton up from school and head down to UVM. When we got there we got caught up in the nervous excitement. All of Justin's classmates were there, anxiously waiting as well. There were also spouses, children, parents, friends, and students from other classes there to share the excitement as well. The excitement in the air really was palpable. It was pretty amazing!

At 12:00 the students were invited to race to their mailboxes and grab their letters and find out where they were going. It was a MOB SCENE! Because it was so crazy, the kids and I stayed behind. Justin promised to grab his letter and bring it back to us UNOPENED, so that we could all read it together. Waiting for him to come back was almost excruciating. Finally, he returned. He opened his letter and we learned that we will be spending the next 3-4 years at...

(drum roll)

...MEMORIAL HOSPITAL in SOUTH BEND, INDIANA!!!

It was our first choice. We are over the moon. I can't stop smiling/laughing/crying/shaking. The anticipation has been building for so long that I'm almost not sure what to do with myself anymore!! (Pack, I suppose.)

I am so proud of Justin and how hard he's worked over the past four years.

Now, without further ado, here is picture overload from Match Day:
Me and the kids waiting inside while Justin parked the car (parking was CRAZY today)!
Noah doing what he does best. (We're trying to break him of his thumb-sucking habit, but it's HARD! He's dedicated.) The excitement was a little lost on the kids.
Me and the ever-lovely Miss Jo, who was such a trooper because she didn't get to nap at all until after the match.
Waiting...
Justin and our friend Chi...I mean Chris...I mean Chi Chi...I mean Chi-tah...
The view from above.


Clayton and Noah. I realize now who it is that never looks at the camera...
These are SOME of the kids in the class. There are 21 total! WILD!!
This was how we kept them busy while we waited. Gotta love a good rock fountain (even if my boys got really messy playing with it)!
Justin at the mailboxes waiting to get his letter. I'm glad the kids and I decided to wait elsewhere, that looks so crowded and squished (I think we'd have lost the kids for sure)! Also, thanks Vanessa for taking most of these pictures!
I look ridonkulous in these pictures. But I'm so excited/happy/relieved that I'm going to blame my crazy expressions on my emotions.
Justin opening his letter.
Reading: Memorial Hospital, South Bend, Indiana!
I feel that this picture doesn't do justice to our emotions. I was and am so overwhelmed with joy and relief and I don't think it translated onto the picture.
Justin and I. So relieved. So happy. So excited. So proud.
Justin putting his pin in South Bend!
The letter. 4 years and it all came down to this:
HOORAY!

So there you have it. Match Day. It's been quite a rush. The adrenaline has been pumping so hard for so long, and now that it's over I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to take a long nap.

Bottom line: We matched. To Memorial Hospital. In South Bend, Indiana. We're estatic.