Some of the Many Things I am Thankful For

Sitting on the flight from Athens to London I began reflecting on my trip and I became overcome with gratitude. There are so many people and so many things for which I feel thankful. This is a list of just a few of the many:

1. The generous donors and the Center of Humanities and Ethics who selected me to have this experience and supported me throughout it.

2. My India travel companions - Claire, Dinesh, Vida, Anne, Cristina, Chris, Swamy, and Kevin - who kept the trip fun and intersting and who I feel a tremendous bond with after our experiences together, especially the crash

3. Everyone coming out of the crash alive and without serious injury - The thanks here really goes to God. I know he must have been watching over us. (I'm actually tearing up just thinking about it)

4. Dr. Jones and Dr. Berggren who both called India to check on us after the accident, Dr. Jones calling and emailing several times to make sure that everyone truly was ok.

5. The doctors and nurses at Christian Medical College - especially in the SICU and CHAD - who made me feel welcomed and comfortable while I obserfed and learned from them and their patients.

6. The villagers who invited me into their homes during visits with CHAD, alsays happy to see us and sometimes offering food or sweets while they have so little for themselves.

7. Dr. Dilip Mathai who monitored my platelets at CMC and met us all in the ER after the accident.

8. Swamy for getting me in contact with Dr. Mathai.

9. Dinesh and his friends in various regions of India (Kerala, Banglore, and Mumbai) who were wonderful hosts and helped us to see India through a local's eyes.

10. Jab We Met - a Hindi film that provided hours of entertainment

11. Claire - the best travel companion I can imagine: enthusiastic, adventuresome, interested and eager to explore/experience, yet laid back, consciencous, and understanding. She really is an all around amazing person, plus she is excellent with directions and loves ice cream and shopping. :)

12. Random decision to spend a few days in Istanbul on the way to Greece - absolutely wonderful and one of the highlights of my trip!

13. Joey, my best friend and roommate who has been keeping my life together back in Texas while I've been gone - She's always taking car of me...a truly wonderful friend!

14. All my great friend that have been there from me over the years - I don't know what I would do or where I would be with out you!

15. Dustin - I love you, you make me incredibly happy, and I can't believe how lucky I am to have you in my life.

16. My family - this is a big one - Mom, Dad, Matt, Greta, Trent, Laura, Grandma Doris, Grandma Jean and Grandpa Morris, and Mary (yes you too): I feel encredibly fortunate to have each and every one of you in my life. I can not possibly thank you enough for the endless love and support you have given me throughout my life. As I reflect now, one week before graduating from medical school, it strikes me that I would not have been able to achieve any of this without all of you. You gave me the tolls and the confidence along with the love and the encouragement I needed to accomplish my goals. (Here I go tearing up again) I really feel that this degree (MD) belongs just as much to you as it does to me. In short, I jsut hope you all know how much I love you, respect you, and appreciate you!

My list could go on and on, and Im sure that there are big things that I have neglected to mention, but I'm running low on time. I will see you all soon back in the US. :)