stephjournal2

Our move to Northern Ireland was uneventful. We settled in and Michael began working immediately. The hours were much more humane and the salary was better than what we had received in Germany. I was staying at home with our son and we were getting by without a television. Fortunately, the house that we rented was furnished. Our car was finally paid off and we felt that our finacial situation would improve.

The police knocked on our door at 6 one evening and my dear hubby was standing next to him. My heart pounded out of my chest. I wondered what could have possibly happened. They both came in and the officer told me that my husband had been in an accident. He had been driving on the right side of the road (in the UK, people drive on the LEFT!) and had been in a head-on collision with another vehicle. Fortunately, no one was injured, but our car was totalled.

We had no transportation and the town was over a mile away. In order to do grocery shopping we had to walk to town with the buggy and then fill up the buggy with our purchases and carry the baby home! It turned out to be another "adventure" but at least I as losing some of my pregnancy weight.

The big surprise that year was that we discovered that I was pregnant again. We hadn't planned on having another child so soon, but where still overjoyed!

The time in Northern Ireland passed quickly. We developed some wonderful friendships and the residency year was much more humane. Michael took call from a hospital that had an entire suite set aside for any residents. There were 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, living room, and large bathrooms with showers. I brought dinner to cook every night that he had call, and when our son fell asleep we watched tv. He was paged frequently, but we were still able to enjoy the evening as a family.

Michael spent his free time at home preparing for USMLEII and went to London to interview with several US residency programs. We opted not to go through the match because we did not have the financial resources to go on interviews in the US. There were several programs that came to the UK at that time to recruit and although most of the programs were rural, we felt that they would be more family-oriented and perhaps not as challenging time-wise as some of the residencies in the larger cities.

Michael had promised me that we woud share the decision, and when he called after the second day of interviews, he announced that he had signed a contract. I was furious. The program was in central Pennsylvania and was hours away from any signs of "life". We had discussed programs closer to my family and friends and I was shocked by the fact that he had signed without talking to me. It took a long time before I could hear him say that he had felt pressured and afraid of not getting an acceptable offer...that he had been thinking of us...our family. For a long time, all I could hear was "central PA"!

We vistied the area when I was 6 months pregant. There was snow on the ground, and I had to admit that the area really was beautiful. I resigned myself to this decision, and decided to make the most of it. But leaving was bittersweet. The irish people were warm-hearted, and one family in particular had been there for us from the beginning. When our daughter was born, we even named her after the teen-age daughter in their family. She had been our first babysitter in the evenings, had seen our son do many of his firsts, and was even with him when our daughter was born. Michael was extremely stressed out about the move and I found myself doing much of the work alone. I began to feel resentful and angry, and my parents divorced in the middle of it all. It was a difficult time and I found myself crying at night when I was alone and struggling to get the house packed into what we we could afford to take with us...ten boxes.

The day that we moved was my birthday. The night before, my dear friend and her family brought over cake and gifts and had a surprise party for me. I felt so accepted and happy, and I cried all night as I cleaned and prepared to leave the next day. I suddenly felt afraid of the things to come....and struggled through my good-byes. Before I knew it, we were on a plane to America.