Spring Hopes Eternal

I was looking through old emails recently and came across one from my dad.

The subject line read:
”Spring hopes eternal and summer is yet to come.”

He had attached a recipe for lamb and eggplant kabobs. He wrote something like, “For when you light the grill.” It was late winter when he sent it. Still gray, still cold, but he was already thinking ahead.

He believed in seasons changing.

This time of year in graduate medical education feels similar.

Next week is Match Week.
On Monday, medical students learn whether they matched.
If they don’t they enter the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP); a process that moves quickly and feel even quicker.
Programs that did not feel reassess, recalibrate and try again.

It is one of the most emotionally concentrated weeks in our profession.

Behind every notification email is a person who have invested years-academically, financially, emotionally in reaching this moment.

Some will feel relief
Some will feel grief.
Some will quietly pivot.

And yet, by July 1st, every summer, hospitals across the country will welcome new interns. New white coats. New ID badges. New beginnings.

Spring hopes eternal.
Summer is yet to come.

Match Week reminds us that medicine is seasonal. There are cycles of anticipation, uncertainty, recalibration, and renewal. Even when outcomes differ from expectations, forward motion continues.

In my work, I am reminded each year that optimism is not naivete, it’s resilience. It is the quiet belief that this season is not the final one.

Regardless of the outcome next week, the story is still unfolding.

And in this profession, that matters.