From the GC: Mike Exposed! Has different personality at work!!

Here goes the official third guest post from Mike's wife, a.k.a "baby momma" a.k.a. BY incubator, but most likely known around these parts as the Golf Cart:

As many of you know, we have only landed in Winston-Salem for a brief period of time, one year to be exact, so that Mike can do his Electrophysiology training. (For those of you who don't know what EP is, it's like cardiology for the socially challenged...uhh... I mean engineers. These guys sit in a room all day long watching monitors full of squiggly lines. No kidding.)

Now, Mike has had a fantastic year and has really bonded with the guys at work. He has a terrific co-fellow named Rick, and 4 great attendings who teach him everything he is supposed to know about EP and only yell at him occasionally. I figured that they would like Mike pretty well, after all, he's a sorta quiet guy and does what he's told for the most part. What I didn't know was that Mike transforms into this other human being at work...

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Mike's graduation dinner, where the big boss, Dr. Fitz, stood up to give a little speech about working with Mike for a year, how great he's been, how he'll be missed, yada yada yada. Then he added a little sidenote: "Mostly by the nurses and staff." This furrowed my brow, because not a few of said staff had already come up to me earlier in the evening and said things like, "We need to talk...," "We just love your husband," and "You're not moving."

I think to myself... Hmm... what could my shy husband (okay, so he doesn't seem shy on this blog but I promise you he IS SHY!!) have done to make the legion of women love him so?? Is this something about which I should be concerned? Should I be making "surprise" trips to the EP lab in the future?? Then I think, naaaaaah, they're just being exceptionally nice, like all people do at the end of the year to wish people well. After all, I'm getting the same comments about me at my job sometimes, right?

A few days later, Mike comes home and tells me that I HAVE to reserve such-and-such night off from work because the nurses are throwing a going-away party for him. When my brow furrows again, he corrects himself and says "Oh, well, it's for the end-of-the-year, but... uhh... I'm the guest-of-honor." Further questioning reveals that the staff doesn't actually have an annual end-of-the-year party. Hmm... very interesting.

Mike goes to work, where many of the members of this legion of staff snicker behind closed doors for days. Finally, it's time for the party, which is a backyard picnic at one nurse's house. Mike comes home only after stopping first to get a haircut. (He had to get pretty for his party.)

To my surprise, it really was a party for Mike. He even got presents! Everyone wanted to meet me and tell me how lucky I was to have such a great husband (strangely, these comments were peppered with people slapping Mike on the back and saying "Yo Momma"). You wouldn't even believe the amazing things they told me about Mike! I felt like a celebrity wife. Suddenly I wished I had gotten a haircut myself, in case my curly locks didn't look deserving enough to stand next to him. It was quite an impressive showing from everyone.

Now, I totally know how wonderful my husband is, I just want it to be clear. But usually he is so reserved outside our home life (and this blog) that it never occurred to me that this sort of thing would be happening. All year I've been watching him grow into this amazingly technically talented special (and I mean 'special') cardiologist, and he comes home happy every day from work. Now I see that he spreads all of his happiness to these nurses, and even perhaps a little to his attendings. (Actually, hilariously, Dr. Fitz showed up wearing an outfit suspiciously similar to Mike's. Like Mike is Fitz's 'mini me'.)

And, of course, his 'special' sense of humor apparently was appreciated, because he received an awesome gift, signed by the staff. (Thus the reason for the snickers.)

So, to conclude what might be a slightly mushy post (hey, it's the hormones, leave me alone), I just wanted to say congrats to Mike for finishing a great year, and then congrats to BY for having the good fortune to have such an, ahem, distinguished dad, who obviously demands only the utmost respect at his workplace. (And FYI, just to be safe, I think I will be making surprise trips to the EP lab at New Hanover, and maybe even more frequent haircuts in the future...).