The Unsung Hero

I have received a lot of congratulations over the past few weeks regarding my impending graduation from medical school. So I thought I'd take a little bit of space to congratulate Melissa for what she has done the past 8 years.

In the summer of 2000 Melissa and I started dating. She had satisfied all of the requirements for graduation from SUU but had decided to stay in school and get a double major as well as accept her elected position on SUUSA. In a short span of time we decided to get married and she decided to resubmit her graduation papers and move to Salt Lake City to live with her family and get a job. During that engagement time she worked hard making money so that she could pay for much of our wedding as well as my Spring tuition at the University of Utah (I had money saved for that but it went towards a ring and a honeymoon).

We had decided that though Melissa could easily afford a car with her new job it was not a wise move for us. So she carpooled with her sister into work and rode the bus home from work each day while I drove my car around the east side and up to North Salt Lake to pack FedEX trucks.

When we got married Melissa continued to work and supported me through my undergraduate education. After a year or so of marriage I decided to completely change our lives and start preparations to go to medical school. As always Melissa was very supportive of this decision even though it meant more school for me and more work for her.

When Spencer was born we made the difficult decision that Melissa would continue to work while I stayed home with him. This was a much harder decision for Melissa than it was for me, but we both knew that her working would be much more beneficial for us and I couldn't mess Spencer up too much during those first two years (the results of that last bit are still up in the air).

When we finally went off to medical school Melissa happily (or at least she put up a good front) left her family to come with her husband and child to Eastern Kentucky. Those Kentucky years were rough for her. The first year wasn't too bad for eaither of us, but when second year rolled around all heck broke loose.

At the beginning of my second year of school things got a lot harder for me and Melissa, now with two children (one of which was dealing with numerous ear infections) at home, had to take up the slack. I struggled through some tough times and wasn't much help for Melissa at home. She encouraged me, fed me, and took care of the kids all with a smile on her face. As my study time increased my home time decreased. I regularly left for school before the kids got up, and came home after bedtime with only a half hour visit for lunch and dinner (which Melissa always made for me). When spring rolled around and I got that itch to play some sports Melissa loaded up the kids and brought them to the fields so they could be with dad while he played frisbee. Looking back I realize how selfless she was during that second year.

Melissa agreed to again move across the country to Yakima, WA so I could continue my medical education and if that wasn't enough we moved again to my hometown of Cedar City to finish up. While in Cedar she never complained as I spent my lunch hour with my Dad in his clinic (a very enjoyable experience for me).

We could easily have matched into a program that would have kept us close to family, but Melissa's stupid husband just felt like we should go back to Indiana and once again she happily agreed. So now we're off to South Bend for another 3 year adventure.

I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be a week from graduation without Melissa. So while I am congratulated for the next little while for my accomplishment I want to congratulate and thank her for our accomplishment. Congratulations Melissa!