Hi Everyone,
My wife makes meteorological magic. Wherever she goes, rainy skies turn blue. Her power is impervious to skepticism, logic, and statistics. It cannot be denied.
I write from sunny Copenhagen, where rain was in the forecast until we arrived. We spent Saturday washing down herring and other goodies with schnapps and beer at Told & Snaps, before heading out for a water tour, a quick visit to the Medical Museion, and a longer visit to the must-see Design Museum Denmark.
This year’s odyssey will take us from Scandinavia to northern Italy to Slovenia. For the next two weeks I’ll go wherever Heide and the girls take me. There will be new vistas and delicious food, but beyond that, I don’t know what’s coming. For a brief time, I will hit the pause button on the all-consuming job I love.
While away, it’s easier to test my theory that the residency runs best when I don’t over-direct. Beyond a little coaching and encouragement, I believe we just need to give residents and faculty the freedom and space they need to chart their own courses. Reports are best when the Chiefs fly solo. The residents don’t need to be pushed to be brilliant, compassionate doctors; their internal engines drive themselves. The Distinction Programs, Beeson Beat, Beeson Bombers, Arts Night, journal clubs, wellness efforts, research, and quality improvement projects burn their own fuel. As I sip coffee this morning, in a Copenhagen apartment thousands of miles from home, I can see that our residency story is unfolding like the great adventure it is- often surprising, always exciting.
This European trip will be similar. I have a sense of what’s coming: the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art just north of Copenhagen, cheese and prosciutto in Parma, coffee houses and cobblestone streets in Ljubljana, and a quick search for WIFI later this week to check on the Match. The only essential step was to fly here with the family I love. Beyond that, I’ve relinquished control. I’m just going to lace up my walking shoes, leave my raincoat packed, step out into the sun, and let the adventure unfold.
More pics to come,
Mark