Endo graduation!

Endo residency graduation is something we have been looking forward to, probably since before Grant even started residency. We knew going into it that these 2 years were going to be tough, and not super fun, but we knew that the end result would be worth it. That's how most things in life go, right? Put in the sacrifice knowing that the reward will be worth it. 

We had a countdown to graduation and it was for sure an exciting day. We had Rowan skip school so we could celebrate this day together as a family, as it truly had been a family effort to get through this program. 

As we all gathered in their office before graduation, the staff came in and announced that they had received the results that all 4 of them had passed the written boards they had taken a few weeks before. That news was the icing on the already sweet day.

This tower behind us is where Grant spent way more awake time than he did at home. (probably almost more time overall even including sleeping at home). It's crazy to think about how it all started with Grant finding out he got in 3 weeks before he had to be in Maryland, me 34 weeks pregnant driving across the country with my parents and 2 kids, buying a car, finding a house, starting residency, etc. Honestly, it all ended up probably being better than I thought it would be (I had low expectations though ;) Besides the humidity and bugs and missing Grant and feeling like he should be studying even if he was hanging out with us, Maryland ended up being really an amazing place for us. We had great neighbors, amazing preschool and elementary school, the best friends at church, great resident friends and got to check off a lot of DC touristy things so now I don't feel like I ever need to vacation there ;) Grant worked in the "President's Wing" of the hospital, saw some former presidents, was cooped up in his office with secret service whenever President Trump came in, etc. It was in a lot of ways a cool experience.

The USO turned out to be a favorite place of ours. We could meet Grant of free dinners, I had a place to play with the kids and get free snacks when we wanted to visit Grant on a night that he otherwise wouldn't have gotten to see the kids, etc. We really made the most of what they had to offer there. 

Dillon-a service dog at the hospital

All the Naval Postgraduate School residents from all of the specialties

Accepting his diploma. Masters of Science in Oral Biology and his Endodontics Certificate

There was a little reception in the tower after the graduation. The ceremony itself was luckily not super long, but the kids (especially Dylan who is usually chill) were a little crazy, but luckily Amy sat with me, we cheered loud for Grant and Blake and we made it through this exciting day.

The next day was the endo graduation party. It was weird because it felt like not long before that we had attended this same party for the class ahead of Grant. It was so exciting to finally be the ones being celebrated instead of putting on a party (in addition to all the other millions of school assignments Grant still had).

A cake with their picture on it

(Grant, Kat, Molly and Blake)

CAKE CAKE CAKE! Boden ate Grant's face and Rowan got his body. They were very excited about this part of the evening.

The staff and residents. There were some huge staffing changes for this second year which made a world of difference in the morale of the program and we were grateful to have had such supportive people.

We ended the endo part with some pool time. Relaxing in the sun and prepping for our exciting move to Oceanside.

It is almost weird that it's all over. We have been thinking about endo residency, pretty much since the year after Grant graduated from dental school. It feels weird and exciting to finally be done with it.