A New Beginning

After spending the last 7 years in Duluth, MN, I finally decided that I needed a fresh start. I spent months trying to figure out what I was supposed to do with my life. Should I attend graduate school? Should I find a new job? Should I move across the country? What should I do? I was incredibly frustrated, because no matter how loudly I asked this question, no answer came...

That is until I traveled to the Dominican Republic with my dad on a medical mission trip to various prisons around the Santo Domingo area. On a whim, my dad and I decided that we would visit this town called San Pedro. We were expecting a hubbub of tourist activity, but instead we found, what Lonely Planet calls, a "grimy, semi-industrial town." Not only were we the only tourists we saw, but we were the only white people. We stood out like a sore thumb!

We walked around the city for a couple of hours, hoping to find places to buy souvenirs or shop, but sadly we found nothing. We had made up our minds to head back to Juan Dolio, the town we were staying in, when we heard someone yell "Tom." I turned around and saw a very large black man hugging my dad. I was very confused. How could my dad know someone in this town?

As it turned out, the man was Peters Noel. He had worked with my dad several years earlier at a prison. Peters and his wife, Annetta were heading back to their house after picking Annetta up from the airport in Santo Domingo. Annetta had commented that San Pedro changed every time she came back (she is currently finishing her residency in SC). She looked and said that there were even two white people there...those white people being my dad and I. They recognized my dad and then kindly took us on a tour of their city.

The tour included a look at La Unversidad Central del Este, where both Peters and Annetta had gone to school. I made a comment that I had always wanted to go to medical school. Once I said that, the wheels to my new life were put into motion. I was told that I could register that day for classes, but since I had only thought about the idea for about 30 seconds, I decided to wait until I had gotten back to the states and had a chance to think.

I enjoy making quick decisions that affect the rest of my life. So after one week of being back in the States, I had made my decision...I would be attending medical school in San Pedro in September.