Graduations

This weekend marked the most recent of my graduations. I am now officially a pediatrician. From now on it will be that much easier for me to explain to people outside of the chaotic world of medicine what exactly I do. No more, "I am a pediatric resident....no, not a medical student....well, yes I am a doctor but.....no I cannot write you a prescription for a Z-pak! Finally, I can just say I am a pediatrician. Well, of course if I am honest I have to continue to confuse people with my new role as "chief resident", which may be the most confusing thing ever to explain, or the fact that even though I am finished I am not really finished because I want to do a fellowship in pediatric cardiology. Oh well, maybe someday it will all be clear...to me and everyone else. Not to change the subject but I have decided that graduations really are no fun. Don't get me wrong, it is nice to get together and celebrate this accomplishment with the people who have gone through this with me and my family who has supported me for the last three years. The thing that is painful for me is that I feel like my life is a series of periods of time where I meet, get to know, become friends with, and get attached to a group of people, only to have them all go away after "graduation", after which I most likely never see them again. High school, undergraduate, medical school, and now residency. It is really hard to come to care about people then to lose touch with them. Hopefully I can do a better job keeping in touch this time around.