You should write a book...

....I get told this at least once a week. But it goes more like this: "your life is so interesting/complicated/confusing/drama-filled, you should write a book!"

I think most of those people are referring to the fact that i had a daughter in high school and yet, somehow, but the grace of God (and a lot of help from my family), i graduated from high school, then college, then med school, then residency, and now am in fellowship. To me, it really isn't a big deal- i know it isn't the norm to have a baby in high school and then become a doctor but i didn't really have any other option. So i know that my life isn't quite "normal" but what is "normal" anyway?

You see, i wanted to be a doctor since i was 2. Yes, at the ripe age of two i told my parents that i wanted to be a "blue" doctor. My dad, a ENT physician, wore blue scrubs, hence the blue doctor. I went to the hospital with my dad on Sundays before church to watch him round, i learned to suture on my stuffed animals in middle school, and while people were being social in high school and doing fun after school activities, i was doing research with a plastic surgeon. lame. i know.

And then, one month after i turned 17, my period was a day late. one day. and i knew, i just knew deep in my heart that i was pregnant. the next month was a constant battle with my morals, trying to decide whether a baby would factor into my future plans or if i should just "take care of it." I can only say that a Divine intervention by God (and that is a whole other story) stopped me 4 hours short of getting an abortion. so because of that choice (which was the right one), i started the journey that i am still on today.

People (friends, family, teachers) told me that i wouldn't amount to anything since i had gotten pregnant at such a young age. They said i would be "barefoot and pregnant" for the rest of my life and that i would be lucky to finish high school. I think because of this, i wanted to be a doctor EVEN MORE. I was determined. I was going to prove them wrong.

Fast forward 14 years. Yes, my daughter is about to turn 14 and while when you get pregnant you realize you are going to have a baby, you don't realize in that moment that the baby is going to grow up into a person. In my case, a person who can get their learner's permit in 1 year and can wear the same size shoe as me. Crazy. This 14 year journey has led me from my hometown of Charlottesville, to college at Duke, and then to the city i call "home." Here in Charleston i went to medical school, met my future husband, completed an Internal Medicine residency, and am now in my 1st year of fellowship. I have made mistakes along the way, i have also had some really good times and some really bad times, and through it all, i have grown up into an adult (finally)...i think.

Maybe i should jump on the "teenage mom" bandwagon and write a book. I am not sure what i would say or who would even buy my book, but i do know i have lots to say.
:)