“Dr. Bear”
“With a heavy heart, I am writing this letter to inform you that I will be leaving after 13 years of practice...”
I just opened this letter from our pediatrician and it hit me harder than I expected.
I know it’s a random thing to write about, but so be it.
Embry excited to see Dr. Bear!
I know our pediatrician only from annual checkups, the occasional ear infection, and other random boo-boos, but yet, she’s been a part of my life for 10 years.
I didn’t end up with her because of her amazing yelp reviews or because someone shared with me how much they loved her, although I’m sure they are out there and they are great.
No, that would make sense and be what a normal first time mom would do.
But me? Ha!
I did a Google search for pediatricians closest to me and her office was right next to a Publix. Perfect!
I mean, who doesn’t select a doctor this way?
I hoped she was decent and that I liked her, but also assumed this was probably not going to happen since I didn’t do .
But my hopes were answered and she was the perfect pediatrician for us.
“Dr. Bear,” as my kids came to call her because they couldn’t say her actual name, did Aubyn’s one-year check-up. When I was there regularly during Embry’s first year, we had several conversations about parenting when Aubyn wasn’t so excited about having a baby sister. I remember the look of panic, just a flash, when Embry was experiencing some wild symptoms as a newborn. We sighed with relief together when the results weren’t what she feared it was. She held Embry, Avett, and Edley on their first checkups. Aubyn sang the Doc McStuffins theme song to her in the nursing station. Dr. Bear guided me through Avett not growing at a healthy rate when he was 6 months old and encouraged me to get outside help for Embry when it was beyond her. She sent us to a radiologist when Edley had a tumor growing over her eye…
Little Edley going in for a scan of the growth.
Through the mundane and the uncertain times, she was there.
So her letter brought to mind what a journey we’ve been on and how much I’ve depended on her, though I hardly knew her.
Does she know me? Not really. Does she recognize me when I run into her at Target? Yes!
But despite not knowing her well, I am really going to miss her.
I do not believe it was mere coincidence that she turned up on my Google search and was the first and only place we went to when we moved to Nashville.
Sometimes I wonder if I just get lucky, but I really don’t think that is the case.
It can’t be.
It happens all the time.
I firmly believe things work out the way God wants them to work out and in the exact way they are suppose to. I also believe He puts the right people in your path or on your journey.
Even my kids lately have questioned the classes they were put in and the teams that they are on and my answer remains the same…
While I wish you were with your friends or on a different team, I believe God has you with this group of people for a reason. There is something for you to learn or bring to the table that they need, or vice versa. I don’t know what the reason is, but I choose to believe good will come out of it and we will look back and be grateful God put us where He put us.
It applies to me and it applies to my kids.
I don’t know why God arranges things the way He does, but I do know that when it comes to our pediatrician, God had us go to this pediatric office and have this doctor and not one of the other 6 in the practice and not one of the other practices in the same building next to Publix.
So I don’t really know what to make of all of this other than to remember that God is in charge and brings people in to our lives that are just the right people at just the right time.
As for you Dr. Bear, thank you for your 13 years of service and the 10 years we got to have you as our doctor. Your laid back confident yet calming presence was everything this mom needed. If you weren’t stepping away to have a baby of your own, I’d recommend you to everyone I know! But you are stepping away and I pray blessing upon blessing on this next stage of your life and that your baby has a pediatrician as wonderful as ours.
Just for sheer cuteness...how baby Avett was entertained waiting for "Dr. Bear"!
