When you graduate from college, at least for me, it wasn't a big deal, saying goodbye and embracing the next step in your life. I had made a few friends in my classes, but no relationships that caused me to ever say something as foolish as, "Best Friends Forever" or "There is nothing that will keep us apart." Maybe that is because I wasn't in a sorority or didn't ever really hang out with a group of girls/boys from school. After a brief time at BYU, I came back home to finish school at UNLV. I had no need for new friends, because the few good ones I had from high school were all I needed. The phrase quality over quantity was what my life was like now, so different from high school. And when I graduated, I was married and spent my days happily with my new best friend, my Sugar.
Our lives became as one, getting older and wiser, and more freaking grown-up each day. Life and all it's challenges were upon us and we did it together. So when he got into dental school, after a few years of frustration, it was as if I had been accepted too. I was so excited, overwhelmed, and scared for the next chapter in our lives. As was he.
And man oh man, those four years were way different from my high school years or my personal college years. They were filled with a new set of friendships forged together by commonality. We were all embarking in this challenging time together - The Life of a Dental School Student, and their families. The husbands were hard at work, studying constantly, attending lectures, boards, clinic time, scheduling issues, dealing with horrible professors, ridiculous assignments, cramming for midterms, finals, and pop quizzes of all sorts. All the while missing home cooked meals, family time, and anyone else, other than classmates robed in the lovely red scrubs they all were so excited to don at first, or the lovely ladies at Circle K.
Meanwhile, us wives were on our own. We could not understand fully the rigors that our husbands were facing. We could not understand the pressure that was placed upon their shoulders to do well, not only for themselves, but also for their families that depended on them so much. We could only do our best to be supportive and manage everything else in life, without them.
Just as the husbands were united to their study groups and close friends/classmates, us wives found comfort in spending time together, uniting us. We needed each other to get through this time. Play dates, vent sessions, pot-luck meals, baby showers, Facebook UNLV DENTAL WIVES 2016 posts, group dinners were our norm, all without our husbands, as we needed each other. We could understand what each of us were going through. We were all in the same situation.
And as those years were coming to a close, I grew sad. Because I was no longer naive. I was no longer as dumb to think that we would stay friends forever and/or as close as we were during those 4 years of dental school. The last semester I kept saying to my Sugar, "Aren't you sad that school is ending?" And he would always laugh at me, like that was the most ridiculous question he had ever heard. But I was. I knew that life would change in such a drastic way, and although it was exciting, it was still hard to think of all of us going our separate ways.
I remember feeling so many mixed emotions for my Sugar's final UNLV Gala. I was so excited to spend one last night with our closest friends of the last 4 years, dressed up, laughing, eating, and just enjoying the night. Meanwhile, I knew full well, that this would be the end of that chapter in all of our lives, and so it must be cherished.
Not quite all of the girls and that makes me sad.
My Shannon
His Joel
Bunch of crazies
Loved our vent sessions and heart to hearts.
Love you Cecile!
These 2 always made me feel loved.
The After Party
These 2 are my go-to girls. Always there no matter what!
On top of the Stratosphere riding ALL of the scary rides, where one of us literally threw up, one of us may have peed a little in her pretty gown, and the other one rode some more rides completely by herself because she was just that DIE HARD!
I felt like Homecoming and Prom all over again.
I will always love this city.
And I will always love these people!
We have all gone our separate ways, the husbands doing their dental things, and us wives being the constant support they need. I am so thankful for the friendships that I made throughout those 4 years. The support and love that was shown to our sweet family, personally, is something I will always hold dear to my heart. I am even more thankful that the ability to see each others lives through social media is available. Although we are not physically living in the same city, we are still able to keep in touch. And I am so thankful to have Facebook reminders pop up in my "Memories" of the good times we had together over those 4 grueling years. And especially the ones about that night.
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