Friday, March 19, 2010

Match Day 2010

The night before Match Day, I woke up randomly for 2 hours or so, unable to fall back asleep. When I finally did, I had the most random nonsensical "nightmare" of the day to come. It involved matching at a program high on Mr.'s ROL that I'm not crazy about, only under the name of a real program to which Mr. didn't even apply! Bizarre.

Anyway, I woke up around 8 and started to get ready for the day. At 10:30, Mr. left for a pre-match AOA meeting. By 10:45, STM and I were both getting a little stir crazy, so I went down to her apartment to finish getting ready.

We each represented the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of attire. She was in jeans, wedges, and her lucky purple cardigan, totally rocking the snappy casual look. By contrast, I was in a long sleeved slinky Calvin Klein black, white & grey patterned dress with a red belt and my 3" patent leather slingbacks, the nicer end of what I might wear to work in Corporate America. When we entered the school cafeteria, we noticed that neither of us was out of place.

As the AOA meeting came to a close, the cafeteria staff began to set up the tables. Mr. and STM's hubby went to grab their graduation packets and free t-shirts from the alumni association.

We found seats, and then STM's watch stopped at 11:45am. Having not eaten breakfast, I was starving. I helped myself to a tuna salad sandwich and some pretzels. STM grabbed half a sandwich, and our husbands were nowhere to be found, mingling with their classmates.

Mr. strategically positioned himself by the table of envelopes so that when they clanged the gong at 12:00pm, he was able to quick grab his envelope, look at it (I promised him he could see it first), and then bring it over to me. Before I knew it, the letter was right in front of me, and Mr. was pointing toward the answer.

He matched at his #1!

I yelped, jumped up, and gave him a long tight hug. His #1 was the only program on his list that we completely agreed upon. And it's a tiny tiny Midwestern community program at which he didn't rotate. Had we matched at #2, he would have been thrilled, and I would have been slightly bummed. The reverse would have been true for #3, and #4, though an amazing program, was in a city that would have been horrible for my career. Luckily, it didn't come to that. He matched at his #1.

STM's hubby had received communication from his #1 that he was ranked in the top [exact # of slots for that program], so I wasn't surprised to learn that he, too, got his #1 choice.

It was so exciting yesterday, as most of Mr.'s classmates matched at their #1 or #2.

I tried calling my mom at work. It was so loud that her secretary had to tell me three times that she wasn't in before I heard. So, I tried her at home only to get the fax machine. Finally, I tried her cell, where I was thankfully able to reach her. She grew up in the town where we matched, so she was happy (though perhaps a little disappointed we'll be 4 hours away instead of 90 minutes away). I wasn't able to reach my dad, so I just included him on a mass text I sent out.

I emailed my boss to give her the good for me / bad for her news. She responded to both congratulate and mope. I will truly miss this place.

I then called a good friend who is going into general surgery. She also matched at her #1 choice in a program <2 hours away! Mr.'s hospital had been #4 on her list. We should have coordinated better!

I didn't finish my sandwich. The boys didn't even eat. We were the last ones to leave as one of Mr.'s classmates took him and STM's hubby to the local humidor to get celebratory cigars. STM and I did our best to avoid the smoke. Blech.

Finally, we went into the city to eat some BBQ before hitting up happy hour with the rest of the class.

Since the four of us all had to get up early for work today, we made it an early night. However, we have big plans for tonight, as well. And fortunately, none of us have early morning plans for tomorrow!

So far today, I've started emailing my fashion school contacts like crazy in hopes they can introduce me to someone who wants to give me a job. I've started harassing people in the town for apartment recommendations as well as recommendations for good tailors and cobblers.

These next 2 1/2 months are going to fly by. I just hope I can enjoy my last moments as a New Yorker in the flurry.


01 day since The Match
76 days until Mr.'s Graduation

1 comment:

Insomniac said...

Congrats again! Did you ever see my reply to your post?