I'm sure many of you have seen the YouTube video "David After Dentist". If not, please crawl out from under the rock you've been hiding under for the last 4 years and check it out. The moment of interest in the video is when David, who is delirious from the after effects of the medication he received at a recent dental appointment, yells to his father, "is this real life?".
That's a little bit how I feel right now. It's convenient that the whole dentist theme ties in, but I often wonder to myself these days if this is real life. I'm 2 semesters from graduating and at this moment I have no clue where I will be one year from now. I will find out soon enough, but this is a pretty neat moment in my life. Never before has the future been so unknown yet so exciting!
If you've followed my blog and read every word on every page, you might have pieced together that this Air Force thing was somewhat of a childhood dream of mine. I longed to be an astronaut or a pilot and when I decided to attend Oklahoma instead of the Air Force Academy, I assumed those dreams were behind me, ever fleeting as I moved forward with my life, with more "practical" things.
In a twist that can only be described as incredible, I was introduced to the HPSP program during my sophomore year of undergrad at OU as a means to pay for dental school. I applied and was one of five students in the entire country selected. I was sworn in a few months before dental school began but until this week, neither my Air Force career nor my upcoming DDS degree seemed real. I've been working for so long that it's been easy to say "one day I'll be doing this, or that". But that day is coming. And for some reason, it's starting to sink in now.
I think this is due to a couple of reasons. I recently submitted my base ranking for the AEGD and recently drove down to Barksdale Air Force Base for an interview. I am currently on externship at a community clinic cranking out fillings and extractions like a dental robot. I've shocked myself at how much I've progressed as a dentist and as a person and it finally seems real.
My point in all of this is to say this. Cherish where you are in your life because in reality, no matter what our goals are, everything in life is just a journey. To ignore your everyday life and only focus on what is to come is to miss out on everyday beauty and excitement. Conduct yourself ethically and with integrity and your long term goals will fall in place. But don't forget to have fun! We will be learning our entire lives so enjoy the journey because really, that's all we have.
When my wife and I find out where I'll be going for my AEGD, I'll post again and show what my rankings where in comparison to the base I was given.
As always, email/tweet/comment if you have questions for me.
