For A Medical Student Life has a way of challenging us with new beginnings. Some are well planned like this marriage. But many are unplanned, even unpredictable, like an illness, a forced job change or any other unpredictable thing that requires major adjustments. But in all cases new beginnings provide us the occasion to assess and reassess where we are in life. We are here today celebrating a beginning for __________ and __________.

The bride and groom will pardon me if I sound a bit crude, but it may just feel like an ending to them. They have made it distinctly clear to me that they have been "waiting" for this for seven years or longer. Call it what you will, what we do right now marks the end of a preparation which was marked by friendship and suspense, courtship and planning, waiti…