The Day We Met

My 10th wedding anniversary is November 9th so I was reminiscing about the 1st time we met. I was in my last year of pharmacy rotations which means the students go to a location to get clinical experience in the hospital and community setting. My school UOP is located in Stockton and there were sites all over California. At the time there were only 3 pharmacy schools in California so choice sites were limited. USC took up most of the LA area so my school had less than 10 openings available so the competition was fierce. Unfortunately, I and about 20 other pharmacy students were placed in San Diego. The good thing was that the San Diego group was a really cool bunch of people and that's where I met Hector. Our main center was at the VA hospital in La Jolla located on the UCSD campus. There were about 3-4 hospitals where we were assigned along with various community (ie. chain drug stores) and other specialty pharmacies.

My friend Dan was one of the first group of students to do the internal medicine rotation which is always tough. You get assigned to a medical team, go on rounds around 7am and those patients are your patients you follow their drug regimen. You monitor your patients for proper doses, therapeutic uses and drug interactions (to name a few). Your team consists of a couple of residents, some medical students and you. Dan was on a team with Hector who was a 3rd year med student at the time. They got off to a shaky start but became good friends. Dan & Hector began going to clubs where Dan learned some of Hector's techniques to meet girls. I remember Dan raving about his friend Hector who was so cool, etc. It wasn't until about March that I finally got to meet this Hector. I went out with Dan to some club called Sybil's and Hector would be there. I remember we were sitting at a table when Hector arrived and he said hello to us then disappeared on the dance floor. I thought that was really rude of him and he didn't seem very cool to me. He was this kinda thin, dark guy with black rimmed glasses who wasn't very friendly. Throughout the night, Hector barely said anything to us and left soon after. So our first impression didn't go so well...

Later I found out way after that first meeting that Hector thought I was Dan's date so he avoided us. Also he never really liked the type of girls that Dan went out with so he assumed that I fell into that category. A little while later, a bunch of pharmacy students went to El Toritos for happy hour and Hector showed up because Dan invited him. Well, Dan was stuck at the hospital & I was sitting next to Hector so I started chatting with him. We must have been a little buzzed since I was talking up a storm and so was Hector. I told him that I had a boyfriend up in Sacramento and Hector said he was seeing someone too. I remember another friend Mariclaire nudging us closer...I guess she could tell we had some chemistry because we were huddled together in our own little world. Hector and I had a good time so we came to an understanding and I guess that set the wheels in motion for our future.