Back to Vet School – Reconnecting 20 Years Later
September 1st, 2010
OSU CVM 1990
The title of this blog is “Vet Med Connect” which reflects my love of the many ways animal lovers and vets can connect online these days. I graduated from veterinary school 20(!) years ago. No one had a laptop or cell phone in our class. We passed notes on paper and used regular phones. Then we graduated.
Most of us, even though we were inseparable for four years, went our separate ways and lost touch.
What Happened Since Then
We got married, divorced, started families, pursued internships, residencies, and long and short-lived jobs. We worked in private practice, academia, military, and corporate veterinary positions. One of us has grandkids. We are a very diverse class with lots of different personalities. What could be a dividing factor for some groups drew us together.
Even back then, we were known as “the fun class” and had lots of laughs to get us through the rigors of vet school. We watched out for each other – celebrating happy times and commiserating during sad times.
Getting Back Together – A Little Intimidating
I have never attended a reunion before. I wasn’t planning on starting any time soon either, but there I was, on the Reunion Planning Committee with my dear friend Cindy (who I have written about before) and Craig, an awesome classmate who was often the party planner back in the “old days.” It would be hard to bow out of this one.
We planned on a low-key pizza evening at our favorite haunt (still going strong 20+ years later!). Seemed easy enough, but Cindy and I were nervous to go on in. We braved it, and wow! everyone was so happy and excited to reconnect. One of our favorite professors stopped by. And surprise… we all pretty much looked the same. For real.
We did “20 words for 20 years” to reacquaint ourselves. Some of us had typed out the lists on iPhones or iPads, most of us scribbled down the 20 words on a piece of paper on the way (or, in some cases, as the pizza was served). We laughed, looked at old photos, laughed, met spouses and kids, laughed, and found out where the years have taken us.
Veterinary School Tour
One thing that had changed very much in our time away was our vet school. We entered in 1986 and graduated in 1990. We split our time between Oregon State and Washington State during those years, since OSU was a large animal only facility at that time. Now, OSU is a full-service large and small animal teaching hospital, with class sizes much larger than what ours was.
Two of our favorite professors played hosts / tour guides, and gave us a tour of the new OSU veterinary school. The tours were as much about what was the same as they were a tour of what’s new. We were impressed by all of the remodeling, additions and high-tech equipment.
Then we had a slide show. Photos from the school days mixed in with new ones. OK … I see that we have changed a little bit since then, but it’s all good.
Picnic in the Park
Next up was a picnic. This was great – a chance to relax and regroup without all of the nerves from the day before. Getting back into our old groove. Cell phones doubled as mini-photo albums to show off important people and places in our lives. We all took tons of new photos. Maybe this time I will be better at keeping track of photos. I am much better on a computer than at scrapbooking.
No one wanted to leave; to break up the new connections. We started talking about our next reunion. Thinking we should have it much sooner, because time is speeding up as we are slowing down. We are talking about a cruise in 5 years.
… and Beyond
As it happens, the day after the reunion was the last day for team registration for the September Race for a Cure. This is noteworthy because Cindy, such an integral part of our class, is a breast cancer survivor – celebrating 3 years this year. I let the class know about our team and have been amazed (but not really) at the outpouring of support and team sign ups.
Our classmate Mary put it best: “This is just the cause to rally our class. It breaks my heart when I think of what Cindy has been through, and it reminds me of how lucky I am, and how short life is. We should make this our time to get together, and remember what is important in our lives.”
I think that sums it up just perfectly.
Be A Part of It:
Related Posts
Posted in K9 Fun, K9 News, K9 Stories | 3 Comments »
3 Responses to “Back to Vet School – Reconnecting 20 Years Later”
Leave a Reply
Janet Tobiassen Crosby DVM never planned to be a writer. She wanted to be a veterinarian from the moment she learned such a job existed - sometime during the first grade, when she accompanied her mom to the vet with a sick cat. Janet "adopted" all the neighborhood cats, and at age 11 she started training her first dog, a newly adopted rescue Collie. At age 12, she joined a dog obedience 4-H club and was active through high school as a member and as a junior leader.
- DrJTC: Sorry for the delay – just now saw your comment. Good point. I am lucky to live in a relatively bug-free...
- Kathleen Winn: Great tips! We live in the country so our dog is a regular “wilderness adventurer.” Our...
- AboutVetMed: Thanks, Deb! I was relieved we ended up with something to submit.
- Deb: Loved this story. Your “HairBear” turned out really cute.
- Jenni Meyer: Dave, Millions of dogs in this country are killed every day. I applaud what you are doing and had no...
Test
No, thank goodness we didn’t have any tests!
heh
[...] to a reunion – vet school, high school or otherwise – ever. I was nervous, but ended up having a blast. I did a behind-the-scenes vet school tour, which had many of my classmates wondering just why I [...]