Engagements!!!

Holidays bring engagements. It's true.

Couple #1: Hans and Rachel (THE NEWS)

In case you hadn't heard, I just wanted to pass on the good news that Hans and Rachel (Hans is a classmate of mine and Rachel his long-time and wonderful girlfriend, now fiancee!) are engaged. Wendi already broke the news several days ago and has pictures (this is one I stole from her blog; it's hard being friends with someone so ontop of everything, more adept at blogging, and who has the same friends), but I thought I'd congratulate them as well as share some postings from a couple of other friends who are getting married at the end of the year! Hans sent us the funniest e-mail whose text read something like "Rachel and I are engaged. It happened in a field and then we played basketball-- perfect. Ask her for details." It was very Hans. I, of course, had to know details and learned from talking to Rachel yesterday that he was really quite sweet when he proposed out in the country this past week. They make a fantastic couple and I only hope they might consider moving out to OR for residency (if I end up there:)).

Couple #2. Tia and Rob (THE EXPECTED)

Tia and Rob have been engaged for many months (and everyone knew the wedding was long-in coming). Tia was my roommate for the first couple of years from med school so I got to know them both very well. I love their story (and Tia already gave me permission to post her link, so I hope that discussion is also allowed). They met their first day in college through a mutual friend of theirs, Grace. I know that Rob was dating someone else for much of college and even, at one point, set Tia up with one of his friends, but they were the best of friends all the while. Then they saw the light, realized that they were the ones that were supposed to be together, and started dating around the beginning of their senior year. After finishing up at Indiana, Rob moved to Minneapolis, and they've been doing the driving-back-and-forth-during-weekends-thing throughout med school. Their wedding is about a month before graduation and I'm also very excited to see where they end up, because we applied to many of the same places for residency. Apparently the website thing is now the thing to do (they are very awesome. I want one! :)) so you can check theirs out at: Tia and Rob's Wedding .I just had to post their hilarious initial "welcome" picture with their accompanying statement "We are so excited to get married." :)

Couple #3. Erin and TJ (THE "FINALLY")

Erin, or "EVB" as she is known to most of us, is one of the greatest girls I've met. She is hilarious, brutally honest, hates most "girlie" stuff besides "Sex and the City," totally does her own thing, and was terrified of marriage (I think the medical term is "gamophobia") until this year, despite having a wonderful boyfriend, TJ (a PhD student at Stanford) who was eager to tie the knot :) I actually remember meeting Erin the first day of med school and learning that she "didn't really have a boyfriend"-- she didn't really see this long-distance thing working. But, through almost four years of school and doing distance (and that is a LONG distance!) the entire time, they are engaged and getting married right after graduation. I find this absolutely amazing. Erin hopes to do her Peds residency at Stanford and only applied to programs out in that area. I'm excited to go visit them on Saturday! :) I realize that I have a paucity of photos of Erin (and TJ-- for he's only come to visit a couple of times while I've been in town), but here is one from a dinner during our first year!! I know it's poor-quality (sorry... cringe), but they are the very cute couple on the couch at the back.

Couple #4. Katie and Ryan (THE SURPRISE)

This is a picture of Katie and Ryan (and Summer, who is not getting married TO them but who is Katie's best friend here and part of the wedding! I didn't have a pic of just the couple, sorry.) at the Unity Ball from this year. Anyway, I remember talking to Katie back in August when she had just met this guy Ryan through online dating. At that time, she kept raving about what a fantastic guy he was but I hadn't heard too much until Nicole spilled the beans and we got an e-mail from Katie with "exciting news," which, I've come to recognize, usually means "I'm getting married!" Sure enough-- after a few months of dating, Katie (a classmate of mine) and Ryan (a grad student in the twin cities) decided to get married at the end of the year. They've already bought a house in San Antonio, TX, where Katie will do her Peds residency and near where Ryan will finish up in his lab, which is moving to Austin. You can also check out their website, which is super entertaining!: Katie and Ryan's wedding

Who's next? Good question. Despite bets and pacts I've made with various people (you know who you are...), there are no surprise engagements on the horizon or kids in the near future from my end. As far as options, I hear the ratios are quite good in Alaska (Anchorage, by the way, has the ONLY residency program in the whole state, which happens to be in Family Medicine! Joh and Marla, two of my classmates, have gone/are going [respectively] to do rotations there-- how cool, right? I would LOVE to go to Alaska! But I think it's too late to apply). However, as my cousin Richard informed me over Thanksgiving, "Yeah, Alaska... The odds may be good, but the goods are odd." Well, then. I think perhaps I will stick to California, Colorado, Washington, or Oregon!