COMMUNITY

I have been blessed throughout my life (and especially my adult life) with amazing communities of friends regardless of where I was living at the time.  Though the number of my friends over the years has never been huge (despite what Facebook says), this is in contradistinction to my endearment towards these folks.  Whether it was college in Austin, med school in Houston, residency in Dallas, or fellowship in Baltimore, I have always had a cadre of friends who got me through tough times and helped me to see the joy and beauty in life.  Indeed, the strength of these communities of friends seems to have been inversely related to the 'coolness of the city' in which I was living.  For these people, I am grateful.  You know who you are!

The hardest thing about getting one's first job in medicine/science is that the sense of being in the trenches, which is something which greatly facilitates fellowship/fraternity, disappears. One is no longer 'in training,' and, for me, my most recent move to Portland has meant less friends nearby and less intense friendships with those whom I know locally.  While Portland is an amazing community in which to live (liberal, progressive, eco-conscious, tolerant, amazing outdoors, >84% voted for Obama, etc), I lack a community of close friends here.  I hope that changes over time because life is too short to not be with those whom ones loves (family excluded).  

All of this reminds me how thankful I am for the people who remain my friends from over the years wherever they might be (NYC, Cambridge, Chicago, Wilmington, Palo Alto, Baltimore, SF, Houston, Boston, Austin,...) and whose friendship still keeps me going...