Ten years ago, I sat in front of this cutie pie in Kimpel Hall at the U of A. There just happened to be an empty seat in front of him, and I nearly ran to get it :) He leaned forward and tried to talk to me, but I was sure that he wasn't the smartest guy-you should have heard that accent-and I was pretty sure he was going to ask me to help him with his homework. It was, after all, an English class, which was my major. After talking with him for a few weeks and figuring out that he was a smarty pants, he told me he wanted to be a doctor!  I remember turning around in my desk and smiling. I mean, I thought he was smart, but he was fro Little Rock, which was where I thought all the gangsters lived :)  I was a bit sheltered as a kid!  

I remember every single step like it was yesterday. He studied for the medical school exam, he took the exam, he applied for medical school, he interviewed for medical school, he was accepted. Four years later, he had to put his big boy pants on and decide WHICH KIND of doctor he really wanted to be. We all knew he would be some sort of sports doctor, probably a surgeon of some sort, but time was ticking, and the soon-to-be doctor had to make a decision. He came home one day from medical school and he was just whistling. I remember he told me that he was working on the psych ward at the state hospital and he talked with this guy who heard satan screaming at him through the radio. What? He loved it though and he kept talking about his time on that psych ward. It wasn't long after that rotation that Kyle told us all that he wanted to be psychiatrist. I think we were all a little shocked, especially his parents.

That same year, Kyle started interviewing for different residency locations. I kept ruling places out. I didn't want to live in Texas because it was just too hot. I didn't want to live in Atlanta because traffic was  too bad. I didn't want to live up north because it was too cold. We listed North Carolina, but I had never even been here. We were pretty sure we would stay in Arkansas, but why not list it.  The senior medical students have a party, and they all open their "match letters" at the same time. Kyle went up to the microphone, and I remember hearing him say, "Kyle Johnson-University of (big pause) North Carolina!"  I cried with excitement, of course. But it was much harder to call his momma to give her the news. That was the toughest part of this whole journey :)

Skip forward 5 years, and we now have a growing family with two darling boys, and I can't imagine our life being any different. Living here in North Carolina has changed us, for the better, and I will miss this place. My sweetie is FINISHED with residency (in a few weeks), and in the midst of buying a house and selling a house, Kyle had yet another test. He had his oral boards in Atlanta, and we found out that he passed those boards, and he is officially a board certified psychiatrist!  He will have one more test, in about a year, and that exam will give him board certification as a child psychiatrist, but that's a whole year away, and for now, we are just going to celebrate the passing of this exam!!!

I had to post this picture from when Kyle was little boy. He's the crazy kid in the pale blue hat with his arms wide-spread!  I wonder what his parents thought he'd be doing twenty-some years later? :)  JoAnna, don't hate me, but isn't that picture of you with the flowery hat AWESOME!

We are so proud of you!