Where to begin when describing this momentous event. March 18, 2016 is a date that has been on our calendar since Branden first started medical school 4 years ago. This is the day that he would find out where he would be doing his residency training after medical school. When Match Day finally came, we both couldn’t believe it was already here, but also felt like it took forever to arrive! But we are so excited and relieved about the results and where we will be spending the next 4 years!

One reason I am so glad this day has come and gone is that that constant pit in my stomach from the past several weeks is finally gone! I can finally go back to sleeping through the night and not being stressed 24/7! We have both never experienced something like this where so much rides on one single moment. Your whole life could be turned upside down in a single day! For those of you that don’t know how this process works, when medical students enter their 4th year, they apply to residency programs for their chosen specialty. They will then be asked back for interviews by the programs that are interested in them. After all the interviews are over, the students ‘rank’ the schools they interviewed at in the order of where they’d like to go. The residency programs then rank the students they interviewed in the order of which students they liked best for their program. These ranks go into an algorithm to place each student in a residency program. Then on Match Day, every 4th year medical student across the country opens an envelope at exactly 12:00 to find out where they’ve been placed! So you can imagine the excitement when all of Branden’s classmates opened their envelopes together this past Friday!

Ranking Branden’s medical school programs wasn’t a decision we made lightly. But once we thought about the future and Branden’s career, our number one pick was clear. Branden really loved the Ob/Gyn program here at EVMS and staying close to home was an added bonus! So we ranked EVMS number one and got it!! Words can’t describe the wave of relief we felt when we opened that letter. We’d been planning our future hypothetically for the last several months, knowing that all these plans could be swept out from underneath us if he didn’t match at EVMS. The frightening reality of that was quite stressful and daunting. So we are certainly glad to have that waiting period behind us and now know what the future holds!

When the clock struck 12 on Friday, all the students tore into their envelopes and Branden insisted that I open his for him. Oy! I don’t think I’ve ever experienced as much joy and happiness as I did when my eyes fell on the words “Institution Name: Eastern VA Medical School”. It took me a second to believe, then the tears of joy were quickly streaming down my face. We are so thrilled to be spending the next 4 years in this city that we have really come to love! But the excitement isn’t over yet, we’ve got some more big life changes coming our way very soon! More on that later…

Match Day was a day that we’ll never forget. Seeing all of the friends that Branden has made over these last 4 years congratulating and embracing each other was truly heartwarming. We have made some real life-long friends during medical school and they all have worked so hard for this achievement! His classmates matched at programs all over the country! We are so excited to see what the future holds for these bright minds, but also sad to see them go.

I also want to thank you all for all your support and congratulations throughout this process! Words can’t describe how wonderful it is to have a whole team of people behind us and cheering us on! We love having you all on this journey with us! Here are some iPhone photos from the Match Day festivities!