שלום לך ארץ נהדרת Heloooo, Israel!/ יזכור Yizkor/ Baby news!/ Happy Birthday, Husband!

Goodbye, School of Medicine!  Last OSCE?  Check.  Last theory exam?  Check.  (Note to self: studying really is required to honor an exam.  Oh well.)  Evaluations done?  Check.  Next stop: GRADUATION!!! I still can't believe I completed the marathon called medical school.  Wasn't the white coat ceremony yesterday?  Am I really smart enough and knowledgeable enough and caring enough and hardworking enough to accept the responsibility of patient care?  (NO!)  Ready or not, though, I will cross the stage on 24 May and become an MD.  At least I have two months to prepare for internship.  There's a lot of Harrison's that needs to happen between now and then.

But the best part of finishing medical school is that I am writing from ISRAEL!  Husband and I are here for two weeks visiting family and friends, with some beach/overeating/hiking/shopping thrown in.  (Ironically, my sister-in-law's husband suggested that this vacation is ideal baby-making time.  If only he knew...)  Although I wasn't born here and didn't grow up here, it always feels "home."  Especially given that today is Remembrance Day for the Shoah (Holocaust) and the Bravery (eg. Ghetto Warsaw uprising), I am grateful that we have a homeland, and I remember the six million Jews and five million Gentiles who the Nazis killed.

I'm including a beautiful poem by Hannah Szenesh, a young woman born in Hungary who immigrated to what was then Palestine, joined the Paratroopers of the Jewish Brigade, and was later capture and killed by the Nazis after parachuting into Europe to try to rescue remaining Jews.

הליכה לקיסריה

אלי, אלי,

שלא ייגמר לעולם

החול והים,

רשרוש של המים

ברק השמים

תפילת האדם

Walking to Caesaria

My God, my God,

That these things may never end:

The sand and the sea,

The rush of the waters,

The crash of the heavens,

The prayer of man.

And here is the Jewish Partisan Song's first verse translated as best I can from Yiddish:

Don't say that you go your last way,

Though leaden skies conceal blue days,

Our long-awaited hour still comes,

And our march will make a sound: We are here.

זאג ניט קיין מאל אז דו גייסט דעם לעצטן וועג

הימלן בלייענע פארשטיין בלאייע טעג

קומען וועט נאך אונדזער אויסגעבענקטע שעה

ס"וועט א פויקט טון אונדזער טרוט

מיר זיינען דא

Apologies for the sad but necessary digression.  To counter it, we have baby news!  The Big Day, aka embryo transfer, is to be Friday or Saturday.  I hope everything works out!  I am extremely nervous about becoming a parent and honestly doubtful that I am up to the challenge/responsibility -- but then, we aren't actually expecting yet, and the embryos might not even implant successfully.  Our surrogate said she wants to start doing home pregnancy tests on Day 3.  I didn't have the heart to tell her a positive result is highly unlikely before day 7, day 5 at the earliest -- but perhaps I'm wrong anyway?  Needless to say, the letter of the week is beta, as in beta-HCG.  

So if you're out there reading this, thoughts/prayers/crossed fingers/any other good luck charm appreciated for Friday and Saturday.  We will update with the latest when we have it.

Goodness, and I almost forgot -- HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY WONDERFUL, SWEET, LOVING, NOT TO MENTION HANDSOME, HUSBAND!!!  Mazel tov, until 120!