I recently struggled through an awkward encounter with someone dear to me. I had mentioned in passing that I was selected to participate in an out of town conference related tangentially to this blog – a chance to rejoin the community of physician finance geeks and to see old “invisible friends” that I continue to sustain connectedness with. This person …
An Enduring Friendship
When I met C, we were in the 4th grade. Although I’d started at the school a few years earlier, he fit right into my circle of nerds, occupying the key role of dungeonmaster during games of Dungeons and Dragons at lunch. We were both brought by bus to a public magnet school located in a wealthy part of LA …
Craft
My wife and I recently resolved to spend a half day on a date to avail ourselves of some of the cultural attractions of big city living. We settled on the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA, a strikingly clad building housing hundreds of rare vehicles. My son accompanied a good friend and his family to this museum a few months …
Gone
The kids were away for the long weekend, involved in their own activities, so we decided to visit my mom. One of the things she has taken on at this stage of her grief in losing my dad is trying to gift his old items to friends and family who will give the items a new home. This sounds thoughtful …
Forty Year Reunion
One of the best parts of elementary school was enjoying a crush on my teacher. In fifth and sixth grade, I was fortunate to be assigned to the same dynamo of a woman. Ms. S was vivacious, creative, engaging, and funny – it was puppy love. She had us teach one another contemporary songs to get comfortable with public speaking. …
Father’s Day
Despite having left clinical medicine a couple of years ago, I remain an ER doc at heart. What this means is that I seldom get sentimental on specific holidays. I’ve had to work a lot of them over the years, which generally shields me from nostalgia over missed greeting card brunches and the like. Why did this particular Father’s Day …
Drifting And Staying Afloat
I rise earlier than everyone in the family, and I cherish that quiet time for a bike ride through coastal fog, a cup of coffee in solitude and time to immerse myself in the latest New Yorker (on days when I am off). It may epitomize a formerly dormant antisocial quality. I’ve always valued my quiet time, my ideal day …
Any Pretext For Adventure
Yesterday a friend and I took a trip to an unlikely natural landscape that was hiding just miles from suits and skyscrapers: We went brown water rafting in the LA river. Yes, LA has a river. No, the water isn’t really brown, although it is plenty sketchy. A couple of decades as an emergency physician have disrupted my circadian rhythms …
Sleepless Nights, Grateful Days
My string of days off began with a bike ride, weightlifting, reading the New Yorker lazily on the sofa. A friend I hadn’t seen in years came over for coffee. We had reconnected after they received a life-altering diagnosis (something that is becoming more frequent among my peer group). Interestingly, health was a minor part of the overall conversation. It …
The Memory Dividend
Last week I listened to the latest podcast from the Mad Fientist, which was an interview of the author of the book, Die With Zero. The interview subject had the swagger of a Silicon Valley tech bro – typically an immediate turnoff in these sorts of interviews – but there was enough substance in the message that I tried not …