Work Dads and Moms

Possibly the benefit of having an older brother who has always been very precocious is that I prefer friends/colleagues who are older than me. Basically, I like old people. There is just so much more wisdom, depth, life experience that old people have, that I want to have. (Also, I am being facetious, while I do like truly old people, I actually just mean anyone who is older than me, which is actually most of the world.)

I also have this habit of picking up 'parental figures' at school and work. Remember C? My school mom from college? Hello C! How are you? =)

In med school, I seriously lacked a school parent. There just wasn't one available, there were so many students, and we went through so many different parts of the hospital, and I do think not having a med school parent made the experience more difficult than necessary. Not that I didn't try. I did try to pick up a med school parent at church, but it was just too hard, for starters, I didn't have time to develop that kind of relationship.

In residency, my residency director was like a parent. He taught me almost everything I know about psychiatry. I also had a residency mom- who was a supervisor. Ann taught me about therapy, as well as life as a working-mom. She passed last year- miss you Ann!

At my first job out of residency, I found a perfect work dad in my medical director. He was, and still is, incredibly kind, smart, and wise. While I only worked for him for five months, he was the best kind of boss. He never made me feel bad about being pregnant, in fact, he told me, if I didn't like the job, if the job interfered with my life as a wife and mother, I could just quit. He also called to tell me, that if I didn't want to be on back-up call, and round on 1/2 of the unit, he would do it for me over the weekend. (The census was low, and he didn't mind doing the extra work- he got paid for doing the work, so I didn't feel bad.) That gave me an unexpected weekend off! Most of all, after Zoe was born, when I called him to tell him in July, "Um, sorry, I know I said I was going to go back in September... I won't be. So sorry. I just can't do call with a new baby." He never gave me a hard time.

I had lunch with him today- and he was just as kind, wise, and supportive as ever. I definitely would not be where I am today without him- he gave me excellent advice, even though it became clear, that we would never work together again. He didn't have to, but he continued to help me grow my career. What a great work dad. Thanks Tom!

Of course, at my second job post residency, my unit director became my work dad. Every week, we met for supervision- he taught me a great deal, skills I still use everyday at work. Eventually, I moved on, yet he still looked out for me and made sure I could use all my leave for the year before I resigned mid-year. What a nice guy! He didn't have to, but he did anyway. (Maybe this is when you realize that government employees are misusing your tax dollars, but hey, I was the net recipient of your hard earned money.)

I still have a work dad in private practice. Whenever I need to move furniture, I ask him to move stuff for me. When people owe me money and won't pay, he gives me advice on how to hunt them down and make 'em pay.

I am a lucky girl, to have an awesome Heavenly Father, who gave me a great Biological Dad, and so many fabulous Work Dads.