The Siberian American: A Weekend with Doctors’ Wives

Monday, September 26, 2016

A Weekend with Doctors’ Wives

For many reasons, intern year was hard. We were adjusting to a new city and residency at the same time. I was also getting used to working from home for the first time and missing hanging out with my coworkers. A few months into the year, I started looking for support and found Lives of Doctors’ Wives. It’s hard to describe what that group meant to me last year. It was a safe place to commiserate with others who know what you’re going through and to get advice on everything from maintaining a healthy relationship during residency to the perfect recipe to bring to Thanksgiving. In some ways, it reminds me a lot of the blogging community.


One of the reasons I wanted to go to the conference this weekend was to meet the wonderful girls behind the group. As many of us know as bloggers, you feel like you know people you have interacted with online, so it was a blast meeting them in real life!


On Friday, I wrote about about how going to the conference was out of my comfort zone, and I won’t lie—that first day was tough for me. A lot of people came with people they knew from their city or have already met people at the conference from previous years. But everyone was super welcoming, and we had a lot to talk about since we had medicine in common.


I know some of y’all might be curious what exactly you do at a conference for doctors’ wives. The biggest part of the conference was fellowship, so we had several activities centered around that: craft night, 80’s karaoke night, and late-night board games. There were also lots of speakers focused on major parts of our lives: how to stress less, how to better our marriages, financial planning, estate planning, and student loans. We also had a great vendor fair and several fun classes, such as a photography class. The best part of the conference was a two-hour panel put on by four wives full of amazing insight. I seriously could have had listened to those ladies talk forever.


Today, I am exhausted in the best way. I met so many amazing women and learned more than I could have ever expected. I am so glad I was able to get past my initial awkwardness and have a great time!

Linking up with Biana for Weekending!