Doctor Doctor

After 26 years of education, our good friend Joe has finally finished school and officially become the most educated person we know (Douglas’ JD/PhD falls to number two, and our PhD’s look like chump change compared to the double doctor). UVA granted him the MD portion of his MD/PhD over the weekend, and Joe and Cate were kind enough to invite us down for the celebration along with some of the Mettenburg and McConnel clans. Knowing that Charlottesville would be a madhouse over graduation weekend, they wisely rented the beautiful Hensley Hollow Lodge out near the Shenandoah National Park for us all to stay in for the weekend. The view was wonderful, and we all enjoyed the meals, the campfire, playing bridge, and the perfect weather. There were some great places to hike, but Elaine and I quickly found out it that it’s best to leave the hiking to the folks who aren’t six months pregnant. Some folks were lucky enough to see a black bear near the house, and others took advantage of the Newtonian reflector and gazed at the Galilean moons. We couldn’t have asked for better accommodations.

On Sunday we ventured back to Charlottesville for the graduation festivities. With pomp and circumstance, Joe officially entered into the practice of medicine, and we all could begin pestering him to diagnose and fix all our little ailments. Of course there was a little twinge of sadness about the ceremony, since graduation meant that Joe and Cate would be departing Charlottesville soon for the gateway to the west, St. Louis. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of chances to meet up in Iowa, and future versions of the beach trip will bring us all together, but we’ll certainly miss having such extraordinary friends close enough for a spur of the moment weekend visit.

(click here to see all the pictures, or here for the slideshow)