Spring is here. . .

The vernal equinox has come and gone. For those of you who do not remember your earth science/geography, the vernal equinox is the official start of Spring where there are 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. Here in northern Illinois, our Spring started with a snowstorm. I was fortunate to miss this (hopefully) last blast of winter as I spent my first days of spring in Phoenix for my year 3 doctoral residency.

My entire Spring Break was spent in Phoenix where all year 3 doctoral learners were in class for 8 hours a day (including Good Friday and Easter). We took 5 credit hours of class, which were considered our qualifying courses, i.e. no pass = no degree. I found the first few days to be extremely disheartening. Many of my fellow learners had great facilitators - mine was okay. I was grouped with individuals whom I have not had any interaction with in previous residencies except for Flora, my friend from New Zealand. Yes, this is me whining, but that is I why my blog is called Mental Floss - right? So, yeah, my friends were all together in other classes without me :(

Needless to say, I would not have gotten through the first few days had Brian not been on the phone giving me pep talks. It was also nice to be able to gripe at my friends who have undergone this journey with me. The nice thing about residency is that you get to see people you know from year 1 and 2 residency, but may not have subject area classes with because they are in other programs. So, this was a nice part of the week because everyone was able to catch up on kids, jobs, etc. Here is a pic of part of our group - thanks Miguel for sending me the pic to share. . . So there I am in the back row followed by Jeff, Flora, Changda, Gary. Jeff's wife is expecting. Flora is from New Zealand and is expecting all of us to visit (neat lady!). Changda is an engineer and lives in Minnesota (brrrrr). Gary is from Canada and has a one-year-old little boy.

In the front row are Lisa, Robert, Miguel, and Sarah. Lisa and Robert were in my learning team Year 1. Lisa became a grandmother since year 2. Miguel was also in my year 1 cohort. He has two little kids who are so adorable. Sarah is in every class I take because we are in the same program. She and I shared a room this residency. Anyway, I am glad to call these people friends.

Later in the week, we had the opportunity to leave the hotel and "see" a bit of Phoenix. It amazes me that they plant palm trees in the desert. On one of our dinner trips, we had to stop at the mall because Gary bought a cute little shirt for his son, but they forgot to take off the theft tag. Anyway, I spied this phenomenal spring jacket at Kenneth Cole. As you know, I love the color red so. . .this is my "souvenier" from the desert.

No mom, you cannot have it. . .LOL

As for the rest of this journey, I have a lot of reading to do to finish my proposal. We started term 4 at work. Brian is completing a pediatric rotation in Chicago. Nolan and Michaila returned to school today and had track practice. Their first meet is Thursday. I will be sure to take pictures.

In the meantime, mother nature decided to attempt to birth spring. . .we had overnight thunderstorms. The air smells like humus. The red-breasted robin mother has returned and built a nest under the deck already. AND - today I saw a bright red cardinal!!!! Yeah.

Oh - and - today is OPENING DAY! GO CUBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!