The Rest of the Summer

 

Another summer has come and gone, and this one has been a really great one.

I spent July taking Inorganic Chemistry II and Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory II. After really feeling the learning curve of being back in school after a couple of years out during my first term of chemistry, I found this second class less overwhelming yet still very challenging. One of the units of the class was quantum mechanics and its applications to atoms and molecules, and I found the material riveting. I especially enjoyed reading the entire chapter of our textbook devoted to the scientific phenomena and experiments that led to the development of the quantum theory of nanoscopic particles and matter. We studied Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, Werner Heiseberg, Erwin Schrodinger, Max Planck, and other fascinating European figures whose insights into the behavior of particles in the natural world led to the revolutionary realization that our everyday, Newtonian understanding of the physical world cannot also describe the world on the scale of atoms, electrons, and photons. All of this is to say that I found my second term of chemistry very engaging and, though I was happy to have a summer break for a few weeks, I am fired up and ready to begin again in a few short days because of the interesting things I get to learn.

The morning after my final exam, August 3, 2013, I was privileged to get to meet Dr. Janice Henderson, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist obstetrician, in the Johns Hopkins Hopsital. After I observed her on rounds with her residents and then met with her over coffee, she agreed to let me be her student mentee this year in a clinical practicum tutorial. I was so elated to have been given the chance to shadow and work with this fascinating physician who does everything from emergency deliveries to a clinic on pregnancy and nutrition for her obese patients. With the help of my mother, I searched for and found some research articles that Dr. Henderson has authored with other OBGYNs about fetal development, the hormonal intrauterine environment, and the factors that influence the decision of how to deliver a child. I am so excited to get to work with this woman during the upcoming year, and you can rest assured that I will write about my experiences once I begin having them. I will shadow her for the first time a week from yesterday and will give a full report.

Josh and I toast with our Qdoba drinks, which allow you
to create a large number of combinations of mix-ins and
sodas!

Just a few hours after meeting with Dr. Henderson, I was sitting in the Baltimore Washington International Airport waiting to fly home to my beloved family. It was so wonderful to see the people that I love the most for three fun weeks in August. I was able to do so many things that I love while in Wyoming. My brother Josh and I spent a lot of time together talking about medicine since he is interested in becoming a doctor and is pretty sure that he'll choose neurosurgery as his speciality. We watched an episode or two of Gray's Anatomy, watched online surgeries (a C-section, an appendectomy, and a heart dissection in a cadaver lab), and had a great time fantasizing about the day that I'm an OBGYN and he's a neurosurgeon. :) He also spent his hard-earned money to buy me a meal at Qdoba, a favorite restaurant of both of ours. It has been so neat to see how much he has grown up and to see how brilliant he is. He also has a heart of gold--when his Sunday school teacher taught him some homophobic stuff in a church lesson about the Mormon Church's "Proclamation to the Family," he came home, talked to my wonderful parents about what he was taught, and ended up writing out his frustrations in a journal. Fortunately, he has my parents, who are open-minded and phenomenal, to teach him that being gay is okay and that it's part of God's plan for me. Anyway, Josh is an amazing kid!

I was also privileged to spend a lot of quality time with Amy. She had her wisdom teeth removed while I was home, so we spent one entire day watching nothing but chick flicks, which I got a lot more out of than poor Amy who was still suffering from the numbing effects of the anesthesia and the delirium of percocet. She begins her first year of university at Brigham Young University on September 3, 2013, and has declared elementary education as her major. She is going to be a complete rockstar. Though I won't divulge her standardized test scores on the ACT and AP tests, they are the highest I have ever heard of in my entire life, and I have some pretty brilliant friends all around the USA. Amy and I also had fun talking about boys and debating whether or not Niall or Zayn is the hotter of the One Direction guys. (It's quite clearly Zayn, in case any of you were wondering.) Amy, Josh, and I also made a point to laugh our butts off at multiple episodes of Scrubs just about every night while we were in Laramie.

From left to right: James, Laura, Paul (the Pensive), and
Carmella.

Since Laura and Paul live in Cheyenne, I was able to see both of them, as well. Laura planned a really fun get-together up in Vedauwoo so that Paul, Carmella (Paul's partner), and I could all meet her boyfriend, James. We all made a campfire in beautiful Vedauwoo, ate delicious s'mores (with a variation on the normal theme by using Reese's cups instead of a chocolate bar!), and had great talks in nature's beauty. It was great to meet Laura's boyfriend and to hear about Laura's adventures as the right-hand man (or woman :) ) for Congressman (and not Congresswoman) Cynthia Lummis.

Paul and Carmella pose with our Italian meal of calzones
and a nice chianti for my first viewing of The Godfather

Paul, Carmella, and I decided that it was finally time for me to watch The Godfather movies since they are favorites of both Paul and Carmella but completely uncharted territory for me. We made some of the most delicious calzones I have ever eaten and watched the first Godfather movie, and I can honestly say that I loved it despite my original hesitance and prejudice. My expectation was that it would be an old, black-and-white, shoot-'em-up style film, but I was so impressed with the acting, the plot, and the cinematography. It was a fabulous film, and I look forward to watching the rest of the series.

From left to right: me, Laura, Amy, Carmella, and Paul
in front of the dry wheat farm of our great grandparents in
Rockland, Idaho.

Maria and Clark brought their family out to the Utah/Idaho border to join the rest of the Weatherford clan for some fun at Bear Lake, one of our family's favorite spots. My dad spent the last year researching and writing the biographies of both of his parents, both of whom are buried a couple of hours away from Bear Lake in a small town in Idaho called Rockland. My own parents own burial plots in a small town named St. Charles right along Bear Lake, so the place is very important to my family and our ancestors. My dad sent us all copies of the biographies of his parents that he wrote, and we had the chance to ask questions and discuss their lives during two different nights in Bear Lake, which was really beautiful. By day, we went out and had tons of fun on the lake. There were many rounds of jet-skiing, knee-boarding, boating, and inner-tubing. There were also lots of burgers, french fries, and raspberry shakes. It was a few days of heaven!

 

From left around the table clockwise: Josh, Amy, Mom, me,
Paul, Carmella, Maria (holding Adalyn), Clark, Will, and Dad.

 



Paul, Carmella, and Mom in Super Mable, the inner tube.
Will and Rosie look after them, and in the distance, the
wave runner enjoys the boat's wake.

I also had the chance to go with my mom, dad, Amy, and Josh up to Jackson Hole for a couple of days of hiking and exploring as my dad had various meetings with the faculty and students in his MBA program at the University of Wyoming. My mom, Amy, Josh, and I went on some stunning hikes and were privileged to see the following landscapes:

Bradley Lake in Grand Teton National Park

I think this is also Bradley Lake, but it might be Taggart Lake,
another beautiful lake on the same hike.

A small cascade near Taggart Lake

We are lucky to live in such a beautiful world, and Wyomingites in particular are so privileged to have such natural pulchritude in their state. On the last day there, my dad was able to join us for one more hike, and we even got to see a female moose, much to my dad's delight.

After three incredible weeks with my family in the West, my mom dropped me off at Denver International Airport for me to return to Baltimore for some more school. Even though it is always really hard to say good-bye to my family, I am so excited for my classes this year and to keep working towards the long goal of becoming a physician. Here's to a great school year, made possible by a wonderful summer with my family!