The Time Before the Sun Rose

Before I may begin with the first day of dental school, I must explain a few things. One, I am not from here. By here, I do mean California, 30 miles east of Los Angeles, where this story now takes place. My birthplace is Madison, Wisconsin. My formative years were spent happily in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. College took me to Minneaplis, Minnesota, Budapest, Hungary, St. Petersburg, Russia, and culminated with my degree from University of Wisconsin at Madison. Then, I departed the snowy Midwest for brighter days in Austin, Texas, home to live concerts every night of the week. After 2 exciting years, I slowed the pace down just a bit in the largest city Texan city closest to Mexico - San Antonio. The University of Texas-San Antonio honorably taught me to open my mind to science, and with the help of a few memorable professors, including Dr. Sadeghi, I applied to not one, not two, but more than a handful of dental schools all over the United States. My dream, you see, was to be a dentist.

It is not an easy journey to learn to be a doctor at my age. This year alone I have three dear friends getting married. While those around me are discussing 30 year mortgages and career promotions, I am debating the effort in exacting a vast debt, the likes of which is almost too incoherent to mention. Let's just say the president of the United State's annual salary is less than what I will be paying after the interest accrues on my four years of loans. The internet is an amazing place, and for the full number, I leave you to your wizardry. Aside from the financial strain, there is a real emotional pull on remolding your life from what you know into what you don't.

Leaving my rewarding job at Blue Star Ointment, with my mentor, Ms. Dawson, was difficult. Similarly, breaking bread for a final time with friends I had brought into my heart was no pleasant task. Then my heart got broken by the conclusion of a love I thought could withstand the distance. Going to dental school isn't easy, and this is all before I've even opened Grey's Anatomy for my first class, and that is cadaver dissection.