So, here's something fascinating:
About a week ago my uncle, the surgeon, got into a horseback riding accident. Actually, if you attribute motive to the horse, it was attempted murder. To make long short, a half-ton of horse rolled a western saddle over my uncle's abdomen, resulting in several broken ribs, 2 days on a respirator, 3 feet of removed intestine, and probably early retirement.
That, coupled with the "retirement" of my aunt (we should all date/marry so richly), and the impending retirement of my parents (how does "retiring" to third world war-torn countries to start medical schools constitute "retirement," exactly?) means that, as of about August, for the first time in 3 generations, no member of my family will be practicing medicine in the US. Some families are bakers, some are watchmakers, we're doctors. Except my generation, which has a bunch of computer programmers, some business sharks, at least two total losers, some attorneys, a mongrel, and whatever you would call my more normal cousins- not many of those.
Now, my parents have been sort of nudging me to go to med school since I was... 6... or so, and lately it's been less subtle. My older sister is a little too granola to do it, and my younger sister doesn't have the "intellect for the sake of intellect" mindset that the rest of us have. Lately my mother has been pushing me to consider an accelerated pre-med program (or ... 7). Ignore that I will have almost (arguably more than) 10 years as an attorney at the earliest time I get started in any such program. She said if I get into [med school x], they'll pay for it. That would be pretty fucking cool. I think I'm going to apply for a few (no more than 2) of the more elite accelerated pre-med programs, and if I get in, I will have some seeeerious choices to make. If not, law-ward ho. On the one hand, yay!! School!!! On the other... School? The cool thing is, if I start next time around, I will be exactly twice as old as when I started college the first time. How crazy/cosmic is that?
I used to have a friend in boarding school (prison) who used to joke with me about collecting degrees. We would rattle off every title we could thing of - Sir, Dr. Mr. Master [name] MD, JD, PhD, PsyD, BS, BA, MBA etc. Adding to my collection... Mr. Galactichero, MD, JD, Esquire.
