Caca Crusaders, Missing a Few Nuggets

Remember our gang of DC med school friends and spouses?  Our group we jokingly now refer to as the Caca Crusaders?  Well, we had a reunion this weekend in Denver.  We hadn’t seen each other in a ridiculously long time but we were missing part of our gang (Dominique and Kevin + kids) so it wasn’t the same.  But even so, and as usual, we had a blast!  Sarah and Dave (and their little boys), and Brad and Melanie (and their little girls) all stayed at our house so we and our kids could catch up on all that’s happened in our lives since our last rendezvous out here. 

Never mind that our kids were all feverish and sick, they had fun with each other too.  The daddies got to drink beers, play with their iDevices, and talk technology while Mel, Sarah, and I sympathized with each other about the challenging juggling act required to be a mom doctor while maintaining a healthy marriage and some semblance of sanity on top of it all.  After the weekend ended and we were left feeling the post-holiday blues again, Travis and I analyzed why we miss this group of friends so much now that we’re scattered around the country for our various residency programs.  These are VERY unique friendships for us; each of these are couples with whom we partied and had a lot in common BEFORE we had kids.  We became close friends because we were in unique circumstances in our 20’s – it wasn’t common where we went to medical school to be married, and our husbands have always gotten along like they were childhood friends.  It was even LESS common where we went to med school to have kids as a female medical student, which we all did in our 4th years.   So a lot happened in our 20’s and we stayed friends throughout.  We, therefore, know each other in a very different context compared to the friendships we make these days, which are based mostly on having kids in common.  We’ve watched each other through the transition from married life (and medical school) to parenthood (and residency). 

People say college is a very defining time in a person’s life, and for me that was very much the case.  However, for those of us in medicine, our 20’s are almost more defining.  SO much changes about  a person from the 1st year of medical school (when we’re green as hell and hopelessly idealistic) to residency (when we’re burned out and cynical), and even more changes happen from the relative carefree nature of married life to the ultimate responsibility of married life with kids.  Put those 2 transitions together in the same timeframe and you’ve got a lot of major life events.  In the case of the Caca Crusader couples, we all married right before starting medical school, had kids during medical school, and continued having kids in residency.  That’s a lot of transitioning during what would already have been very defining and  stressful periods of our adult lives. 

Anyhoo, all that to say that our friendships with these couples have a very solid foundation.  There’s something very re-centering about spending time with people that know you more deeply and with whom you have history.  It’s refreshing, grounding, fun, and heavy all at once.  We miss being able to see these friends on a weekly basis.  We’ve helped each other through tough times since graduation – infertility, diagnoses, family struggles, marital challenges, regrets over career choices at some points and gratitude for our careers other points, failures, disappointments…and also celebrated with each other through huge successes, surprise pregnancies, adoptions, harrowing deliveries, new jobs, cross country moves, and the overall formation and growth of each of our beautiful families.  I’m hopeful our kids will grow up knowing each other just as deeply and developing an even richer history than their parents’ have together, as it’s a unique experience our kids will have survived as well! 

The Caca Gang (missing Dom & Kev’s kids, Cata, Tomas, and Francisca):

We braved the National Western Stockshow and the adults and (some of) the kids LOVED the rodeo…or “radio,” as Finley calls it.  Here are some fun cowkid pics:

Apparently this is what cowgirls look like when they poop?!…

Jack and Ashlyn:

Sawyer to Shane: “Dude, go that way!”

Ashlyn, Jack, and Bryson trying to figure out how to hotwire the John Deer tractor:

As is evident in the pics, Jack LOVED sitting on the bull:

Please look at the pout-pout face on Jack in the next pic – Blub, Bluuub, Bluuuuuub!  (Btw, if you got that reference, name the kid book)

Mel and Griffie:

Bryson and Finley being silly:

Griff-star being his cute little self:

In line with our traditions, here is our quote list from our 4th annual Caca Crusader reunion.  Be warned, this is R-rated.  We’re not exactly proper when it comes to language or content, but throw us all in a room together and we’re like freakin sailors!

1.    Laurie to Sarah, who is furiously turning a light-up toy on and off: “What are you doing, checking to see if you have epilepsy?!”
2.    Laurie to Travis (with a face of disgust): “Why don’t you go take a shower?”    Travis: “Not everyone here took a shower today, okay?”
Laurie: “Yeah, well you’re the only one who looks like you could fry an egg on your head.”
SILENCE.…..”from all the GREASE?!”
3.    Melanie: “Some lady at Monkey Bizness asked me if I was Finley’s mom. It was just easier to answer yes than to explain the situation.”
Laurie: “Wow, I can’t believe you claimed her!”
4.    Travis (describing a catchphrase answer): “It’s like a cross between pants and a kilt.”
Brad (with a completely serious face): “Yeah, Kants.”
5.    Finley: “I LOVE twayzey twitters.” 
Melanie: “Is she talking about twitter?”
Travis: “No, she’s saying Crazy Critters.”
Finley: “I’m going to learn how to twitter soon.” 
Travis: “I can only imagine the verbal diarrhea that will result.”
6.    Laurie (to Travis, who’d just playfully thrown Griffin in the air): “Trav, you scared the shit out of him! He’s a f#*king newborn!”
7.    Melanie, to Laurie in reference to her choice in husband, “I can’t believe you married this guy!”
Laurie: “I KNOW! I can’t believe no one objected at the wedding. What the hell kind of friends ARE you guys?!?”
8.    Laurie (regarding Finley stealing a Payday candy bar from the Safeway): “She stole the candy, then flashed them her dimples.”
SILENCE.
Brad : “I thought you said nipples!”
Sarah: “Me too!”
Travis: “No, then she’d be using her dad’s AND her mom’s tactic in the same offense!”
9.    Melanie, to Laurie in reference to Henny: “He looks so sad!”
Laurie: “No he’s not, his face just looks like that.”
10.    (In reference to the game of Wits&Wagers) Melanie (after accidentally seeing the answer): “Ok, I won’t vote.”
Travis: “It’s ok, your answer was too dumb to be included anyway.”
11.  (Travis asking everyone to declare their Wits&Wagers points from the previous round) Travis: “Mel, how many?”
Melanie: “none.”
Travis: “haha!  I know, I just wanted to hear you say it out loud!”
12.    (In reference to the game of Wits&Wagers) Travis: “Which would you bet more on, the shaft or the balls?”
Melanie: “Oh, the shaft definitely. The balls are totally extraneous, they really just get in the way.”
Laurie: “Yeah, and you feel like you have to acknowledge them from time to time.”
Sarah: “Yeah, and they SMELL.”
Travis: “I guess Brad had quite a skewed view of the worth of his G-unit.”
13.    Laurie (in reference to the YouTube sensation Antoine Dodson): “Wait, why did he go to an electronics show?”
Brad: “Because a bunch of nerds think he’s hilarious?!”
14.    (On a walk, discussing a medical case involving pregnancy in the setting of a Mirena IUD in which the device was found stuck in the baby’s head at delivery – baby was fine once Mirena was removed, fyi) Laurie: “and we shall name her Mirena, we’ll call her Mira for short.” 
Mel: “MIRA!  As in, LOOK, there’s a F*&%ing Mirena stuck in her head!” 
15.     Travis to me and Mel: “girls, you’ve been nursing those drinks for awhile.  What the hell?” 
Me: “it’s Mel’s fault.  I don’t want to seem like an alcoholic since I made mine twice as strong as hers and drank it twice as fast…but I do have twice as many kids, so I’m sure the math works out somehow!”

Catchphrase teams: the Taint Haters (girls) vs. the Maintaintenance (boys)
Travis’s definition: Maintaintenance: the process of maintaining the taint

Song: “The bed intruder” by Antoine Dodson. “Hide your kids, Hide your wife.”
Drink: “The Vagine” = vodka + Hendrick’s gin + tonic