So there we were… almost 4 years of medical school later and we were finally here! You hear about it from all the people ahead of you in school. How anxious they were. What if they didn’t match? If they did, would they be happy? Disappointed? Then the time came and now they knew! They could finally start planning their future! or for the next 3-7 years at least.. Now it was finally our turn to experience the inevitable that everyone always talked about.

They passed out the letters one-by-one to all 150 medical students. We are sat quietly. Anxiously awaiting the clock to strike noon so we could all open them at the same time. The countdown began!

3-2-1-rip!

Jason has been accepted to Wake Forest for an Anesthesia residency in Winston-Salem, North Carolina!

It’s bittersweet.

To many of you, this is no surprise since you know my husband has been in medical school these past 4 years in Hershey, PA. And as the end of the 4th year approaches, medical students find out where they will be attending residency which most likely means moving…

We are excited to embark on a new adventure in the south, but we will also dearly miss the Penn State Medical Center, our friends, church, the town of Hershey, and all our favorite restaurants (maybe I should write a post about all our favorite places!!).

So when/where are we moving?

We actually hopped in the car literally right after matching and drove to North Carolina that night. We booked an Airbnb for 4 days and figured that would give us enough time to get to know the area, meet with a realtor, and possibly find housing. We spent a lot of the journey browsing the web for ‘real estate agents near me‘ to get an idea of the kind of properties that were on the market. There were so many to choose from it was hard to know where to begin! In hindsight, it might have been better to stay put and start to look at places so we knew what we were getting into, it all felt a little rushed just jumping in the car, either way, it worked out! It’s just I kind of always envisioned moving some distance would involve haulage vans, maybe even SUV shippers and other relocation services. Some of our friends had told us about different areas in North Carolina that would probably suit us, however, we wanted to get to know the whole area first. New Homes in Charlotte NC are usually beautiful, with a considerable amount of space! We just love this area. Hopefully, we’d be able to find our dream house on this 4-day trip. However, after match day, the areas around these teaching hospitals get SWARMED with people looking for housing and we knew that we did not want to be part of that herd. A few weeks previous to matching we got pre-approved with a couple lenders so that when we found out where we’re moving, we could start house hunting right away and beat the craziness. I’m so glad we did because we met with a realtor the next morning and 6 houses later we found the perfect place! We wrote up an offer that afternoon and it got accepted the next morning. I couldn’t believe it! It hadn’t even been 48 hours since we found out and now we are under contract with a home we love! We close in May and will start moving in June after graduation.

So what does this mean for my business?

I’ve always known moving was a possibility and I didn’t want to see everything I built here in Pennsylvania to go to mush after 4 years of my blood, sweat, and tears building this business. So a year ago I brought on a wonderful associate photographer. She has been booking weddings under my company for the last 12 months and will continue to head up operations here in the northeast while I transition into splitting my time between Pennsylvania and North Carolina. For all my northeast weddings that I’m photographing this year, I’m still shooting them so no worries! I’ll be around until we move in June, then I’ll be commuting back and forth from NC to PA for my weddings and sessions. I adore my couples and wouldn’t have it any other way :)

Anything else exciting happening before the move?

Well yes actually! We are celebrating matching to our #1 pick (and my birthday) by going to Hawaii in 2 weeks! I’ve never been and we have a whole 12 days planned full of hiking, snorkeling, kayaking, and adventuring. When we come back we’ll close on our house, graduate medical school, go to Boston for a week with our family, then start packing up to move. So much is happening and it seriously doesn’t even seem real.

So overall…

We just feel incredibly blessed. Medical school has been very hard, and running a full-time business is hard, and life in general will always have it’s ups and downs. Jason said one of the hardest things about this whole medical school process has been being stuck still going to school after 8 years while all our college friends have settled down, gotten jobs, bought houses, had babies, and have just lived. We try really hard not to compare our situation of student living and renting to those that have set down roots. If anything, living in houses for rent may have cost us less per month than what it would’ve done if we had decided to buy our own home with a mortgage. The money we pay towards our rent goes towards any repairs that could need doing to our home, instead of forking out more money which we really could’ve done with saving. And the money we have saved from doing this can go towards something else. As long as we’re happy, it shouldn’t matter what our situation is. Everyone has a different path and this is ours. Anyone that’s in our shoes, remember that just because school seems forever long, you can still live and have a great time :)

Thank you so much to all those who have supported and cheered us on during this whole process. So excited for the new possibilities for us in North Carolina and if you are from the area or currently live there, be sure to give me shout!

Here are some photos and a video from match day>>>