Married Classmates

Today, an interesting discussion ensued while I rode in a shuttle with some of my medical school classmates between clinic and our teaching didactics. There are a couple of things that medical students who do not know each other very well can talk about easily. At the top of the list is the location of your next rotation. (UW folks have five states where they can be assigned.) My pediatrics clerkship is coming to an end, and soon I will be off to Anacortes, WA to learn about family medicine. When my colleague learned I would be heading up to Anacortes, he inquired if my wife would be able to join me up there. I almost turned to her and asked, "What do you think, honey?"

You see, currently, my wife is one of my classmates and was sitting right in front of me. None of my other classmates are aware of this. My outpatient clinic attending physicians know it (we bring the same food in for lunch); the folks in administration know it (we did put each other as emergency contacts); even my supervising intern knew (sometimes you have good conversations that can only go so far while concealing such a big component). But none of the 9 other students know about us. I bet that they just think we know each other well because we are both MD/PhD students... I think keeping this secret is a fun, harmless game that keeps things interesting for us. Anyway, that fact would just get in the way of the already isolating effect of being an MD/PhD kid.

Anyway, I am pretty sure I pulled off the answer to my classmate's question in a straight face with a simple, "No, she's going to stay in Seattle. Hopefully, we will see each other on the weekends." Susan pitched in with, "How long a drive is it? Two hours?"

Actually it's one and a half.