Dr. MacDonell-Yilmaz

That will be the name on my medical license someday, because Tay and I got engaged!

As I mentioned previously, we spent a lovely Christmas at my family's condominium at Sugarbush, VT, with some presents in the morning and an afternoon of skiing, then a great dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. The following day, for the first run, Tay suggested we ski Sleeper, a very pretty trail with several offshoots that meander through the woods. Suspecting nothing, I followed him down one of these small side trails, and when he stopped on the side, I skied right past him. "Becky, wait! Stop!" he called after me. "Come back here!"

"You want me to hike back up there??" I asked, and when he nodded, I decided that he must have a good reason. There wasn't a great distance between us, and when I arrived, he stepped out of his skis, saying nonchalantly, "Let's take a break." And in that moment, I knew. He stepped in close to me, lifted my goggles from my face up onto my helmet, and as he began talking, I burst into tears. He wiped my face, then got down on one knee in the snow on the side of the trail and asked me to marry him.

After hugs and more tears and a resounding Yes!, I asked him if my parents knew about this. Of course, it turns out that they had all been in cahoots for a few weeks, and the day before, my mom had actually helped Tay scope out the perfect spot for the proposal. As we continued down the trail, there were Mom and Dad, standing off to the side smiling and waiting for us to arrive and share the good news.


My engagement ring is extra special to me because it is a unique setting (the jewelry company was nice enough to make a new mold, altering an existing setting to fit our preferences) and the center stone is a diamond that my late grandmother willed to me. I am still getting used to feeling it on my hand and to looking down and seeing it each day, and I love every minute of the excitement! Here are some pictures:

Although we are in no rush to set a date, I will admit to buying a wedding magazine yesterday and reading just about all of it in one sitting. As many of you know, I am a planner, and I relish the process of investigating different options and taking care of all the details. In any case, I feel incredibly lucky to have found Tay and to be able to share this happiness with my wonderful family and friends. Happy New Year and all the best to everyone in 2009!

1/8 MD!

As of last Friday, I have completed 1/8 of medical school! After lots of preparation and a fair bit of worrying, my finals went well. In fact, yesterday I got kind of an early Christmas present in that my biochemistry grade was posted and I was very happy! I'm still waiting on my final anatomy score, but I know approximately what it will be, and I'm totally satisfied.

It's really amazing how much can change in a few short months. I know this from past experience, and had tried to remind myself earlier in the semester, whenever I got worried and agitated, that eventually I would get used to this whole med school thing and it would seem like old hat. I realized I had reached that point about 2 weeks ago. I had the day off from class, but needed to go to my ICM (Intro to Clinical Medicine) site, where I work with an internal medicine doctor about once or twice a month, learning to do basic patient interviews and exams. I stopped by school to pick up my white coat and stethoscope from my locker, and as I hurried through the halls, I realized that the only thing on my mind at the moment was driving carefully through the rain to get to the site on time - a perfectly normal thing to think about. This was in stark contrast to earlier days when, in addition to normal worries, I had to think about finding my way around the halls of the Health Sciences Center where I go to school. (On the first day of class, after I finally figured out how to get from my car to the right entrance of the building, I had to follow other classmates because I didn't know which way to wind through the seemingly-labyrinthine halls to get to class!) School alone provides enough to worry about, so imagine how much was on my mind when I was still adapting to my new setting! It was like a full-bodied sigh of "Aaaaahh, I'm ok now," to realize that, without knowing when exactly, I had passed through that initial phase. Now my full concentration can be given to school rather than being spread thin between school, navigation, meeting new people, etc.

After finals, I slept past noon for the first two days. I'm starting to feel like a normal person again, re-entering the rest of life and taking care of things like laundry and buying stamps. I'm also starting to work out how I will spend next summer - my last free summer! I'm hoping to do some clinical oncology research (surprise, surprise), but I'm not sure where that will happen yet. I have already applied to one program, and will investigate several others as well.

And now the holidays are in full swing. Tay and I spent Sunday evening with his mom and her boyfriend, Monday evening with his father, stepmother, and little brother who just turned 7, and last night with my parents. We actually had my family's "official" Christmas last night, including a scrumptious meal and many thoughtful gifts, because we are heading up to Vermont today for four days of skiing. (We did save some presents to bring up there; I'm still a little kid and insisted we have something to open on the real Christmas Day.)

With that, I will end and continue cleaning the apartment and packing. I wish everyone happy and healthy holidays!!