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Published: August 8th 2007
The Mom Perspective on Match Day My mom sent an email to our family in the Philippines detailing Match Day from her perspective. We figured it sufficed as guest blogging, so here it is, with factual modifications. Also, you can check out a link to a Stanford Report article about us on Match Day at
http://mednews.stanford.edu/matchday07.html.
Yesterday was a very exciting and hectic time. At 10am, the advisors handed out the envelopes containing the letters telling each med student where they matched. Meme and Leroy had different advisors, so they opened their letters individually. Melissa got one year at Harbor UCLA for her transitional year (radiologists have to do a year of doing the rounds treating patients before they spend 4 years doing radiology, which does not have much patient interaction -- at least that's how I understand it and may be wrong). Then she goes to UCLA in Westwood for radiology. Leroy will spend 3 years at Harbor for his residency in emergency medicine. Then he will do a fellowship in sports medicine. Anyway, this means that they will be in L.A. for the next 5 years, at the very least. But you can imagine what they had to 
Family Shot
Do we look nervous?go through, not really knowing where they would be spending 5 years of their life. All semi-packed, but not in a position to rent a truck since they did not know whether to store their stuff here in Stanford (if they were going to the Bay Area or New York), or rent it one-way all the way to L.A. Now we know, and we have to finish packing.
After the match envelopes were handed out and all the hugging and greetings, they had to attend a financial aid exit interview. I was joking that they were going to say, “We loved you so much that we think we'll just call it a wash. All debts cancelled". Tee hee. Anyway, they were there a long time basically being told to be sure to pay their debts. I guess they have to start paying since they will be earning money, even if their pay will be pretty low. While they were at this meeting, Claudia (Leroy's mom), Bob and I went to Castro St., probably for the last or next to the last time that I will go to East West (unless I come to Mountain View for some reason after
Meme's graduation). I got demo healing from a clairvoyant/medium. She did get the thyroid and the ulcer areas when she did the reading. Also told me that my clairvoyance is opening up, but third eye is still a little crusty. Then we hung around a little more at a bookstore cafe until it was time to meet up with Meme and Leroy at Leroy's apartment.
At Leroy's apartment, his former research boss and his wife and kids (they became sort of surrogate parents for him here in Stanford) visited and started planning their graduation brunch in June. Very caring and loving couple. A bit sad that Leroy was going to L.A. instead of staying at Stanford. We had some chocolate sushi - very artistically done, good tasting too. Interestingly, I think both Meme and Leroy got "offers" to come back to be on faculty. They both put L.A. as their #1.
Then it was time for the dinner. Stanford certainly knows how to throw a party (Harvard was a box lunch you had to buy). I think I will try and make the sundried tomato pesto. Appetizers great, food great, except maybe for the polenta side. Not into
polenta. So many glasses on the table! I think they had a glass for water, a glass for the white wine, a glass for the red wine, a glass for the champagne (sparkling cider for me), and my glass for the sparkling water. And their individual teapots were just so froo froo! I kept saying I wanted one, and Bettina said that she knows where to buy it and will get me one for my birthday!
After dinner, back to Leroy's for the cake and ice cream celebration of Meme and Leroy's match, and our joint birthdays (Meme - March 7, Leroy - March 24, Bob - March 29, me - April 14). We decided to celebrate it since we are going to be out of the country on those days (Meme was out of the country on hers, Bob will be here, but I will be gone). The cakes were amazing! Bett got them from Schubert's in San Francisco. Really great looking and great tasting. Really liked the hazelnut chocolate. We had gelatos - mango, hazelnut (nocciola), straciatella, caramello chocolate crunch. I actually liked the mango best.
While we were not tired, we were really sleepy. Claudia
did not even get to participate in the cake and ice cream fest! Her schedule was more hectic since she flew in from Florida and was still on Florida time! We left at past 11.
And I did not even write about the evening before at Dave and Buster's.... We rocked at the trivia game!
Then once in L.A., store their stuff, they leave Monday for the first leg of their round the world trip -- Australia. Then we meet in the Philippines. Then Bob, Bettina and I meet up with them in Paris on May 12. Then June 16, back to Stanford for graduation. When will we have the bbq?!!! By that time, the year will be half over! 2007 is really whizzing by.
But for now we pack. Tomorrow we convoy to L.A. - a truck, two cars driving, one car hitched. I offered to navigate. Meme says what point is a navigator when we all know where we are going!
The Best Documented Move Ever Well, that’s what my Mom calls it since she took over 50 pictures of us lifting furniture and boxes. Once we knew that L.A. was it, we knew
Tears of joy
I love this one! Mom couldn't hold back the tears after the great news. we had to get to work. Match Day was an all-day event, with the ceremony in the morning, the financial aid session in the afternoon, seeing our letter writers in the afternoon to tell them where we matched, and Match Dinner in the evening. Oh, and not to mention the cake and ice cream! So, once Friday rolled around, stress was at all-time levels. Leroy and I both had to finish up packing and dropping stuff off at Goodwill and other various places. I had a Radiology Interest Group meeting at 5:30pm, so efficiency was a must. Thankfully, my mom and stepdad Bob were there to help. Our goal was to get our stuff on the truck and to hit the road on Saturday. I was hoping for Saturday morning, but there was just too much to do. We picked up the truck on Friday, which took two hours due to traffic and our truck not being ready. A late dinner on Friday was followed by some quality time spent with Leroy’s roommate Jak. The most unforgettable moment was when he played “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” by Tony Bennett on his record player. I don’t think it
will really hit us until we move into an apartment in L.A., but we really are leaving the Bay Area, Leroy’s home for the last 10 years and mine for the last six.
Saturday morning was a blur. Leroy took his mom to the airport and then started loading the truck with his stuff. He did not get to my apartment until almost 3pm, but luckily, we had moved most of my things to the garage. With the help of Bettina, her man James, mom, Bob, and Jak, we got my
many things into the 17-foot truck by 4:30pm or so. Next, my car (Lupe) was loaded onto the trailer with Bob having to climb out the window to get out because the door could not open all the way. Hmm, design flaw? Leroy hit the road with the truck first, followed closely by mom and Bob in the Camry. Bettina and I stayed behind just long enough for me to turn my apartment and mail keys and garage clickers in. Then we got into Leroy’s car and sped up to catch up with the caravan.
I’ve never driven so slowly from the Bay area to L.A., and
I must say that it’s relaxing. No looking for cops and no need to anticipate how to overtake everyone in front of you. I simply drove behind Leroy, calling him frequently to check if he was tired or needed anything. We made three stops - for gas, for dinner, and for coffee - and in less than eight hours, we were in Van Nuys. Leroy did a great job driving the truck and trailer, and having Bettina to chat with in the car was great. It’s probably the longest time we’ve been able to spend together in years. We parked all our vehicles on our street in Van Nuys at 1am. Bettina’s sister came to pick her up. I thought we would all go straight to bed, but instead, we all hung out a little bit. Bob, Leroy, and I enjoyed the Felipe Rutini cabernet-malbec that we brought back from BA. When we finally hit the pillow, we were all exhausted.
The next day, we moved everything in to public storage with the help of my brother Linus and my friend Diego. Then, we had an absolutely lovely lunch at Gaucho Grill (mmm, provoleta and entraña steak). The rest
Phone Time
Sharing the good news with those not present of our two days in L.A. were spent re-packing our luggage for our RTW (round the world) trip and signing our contracts at Harbor-UCLA. On Monday night, we were at the airport again, more than ready to begin our next adventure!
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bett
non-member comment
G'Day...
Runaway UHAUL was all i could say.....