Side By Side

As much as I think that UPenn is the perfect place for Joe to attend dental school, there is one thing that I am still bummed out about: the lack of other dental school wives!

Although dental school wife blogs are few and far between, I did find and read a few before arriving in Philly (Ariel's is my favorite, here). These ladies seemed to have found at least a few other married students in their husbands' classes, and had become friends with their wives. I was hoping beyond hope that the same thing would happen for me, but it hasn't :/ 

This is what I imagined, lonely dental school wives bonding over some vino.

Not only is there a serious lack of significant others (come on Penn dental students, step up your game!), but the ones that I am aware of (except one) don't seem interested in making new friends.

That notable exception is a girl who has a fiancé in Joe's class. Her and I have gotten together a few times since school started. We've had fun, but she has a long commute and a busy schedule so we don't have the chance to hang out too often (though we did go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art this Sunday, which was a lot of fun!). 

Despite being pretty busy myself, I've really missed having girlfriends to hang out with - lunches, shopping, chick flicks - and I also feel like I am missing out on a support network of people who know what I am going through. 

A couple months ago I decided that, while I might not be able to make more dental school wives in Joe's class (hmmm... unless I became a matchmaker...), I can try to find opportunities to make friends and create a support network.

Enter: Side by Side.

Side by Side is a support group for Christian women who are married to medical or dental students / professionals. Ariel is the one who brought its existence to my attention back in November, and I was excited to see that there is a chapter in Philly. They meet every 2 weeks and read books about marriage, etc. and provide support for each other. 

I took a leap (I am super nervous about meeting new people) and attended a meeting several weeks ago. All the ladies are medical wives (argh! not even ONE dental wife?), and they seemed very nice. They were discussing The 5 Love Languages, which I have read and highly recommend, so it was easy to insert myself mid-semeseter. 

Unfortunately, holidays, illness, bad weather & guests have prevented me from being able to attend another meeting until last night. But I'm back, and hope to regularly make the meetings. The next book we will be reading is The Love Dare, so we watched the first half of Fireproof (which is about The Love Dare). It's a super cheeseball movie (sorry Kirk Cameron), but it really made me reflect on how lucky I am to have Joe as my husband.

Kind of the point of the group :)

Between now and the next meeting, we are supposed to complete the first 5 dares from the book. I'm excited, because I feel like with work, Paparazzi, exercising, etc. I have become a little distant from Joe. Plus, he's so busy that I've gotten used to being without him - sad thought. These dares will force me to take thoughtful and deliberate actions to make Joe happy.

Although the SBS women aren't dental wives, I still feel fortunate to have found a group of women in a pretty similar situation to my own. And, who knows, maybe another dental school wife will join sometime down the line.

Regardless, even more important than making friends and feeling support is making sure that Joe and I have a strong and happy marriage. I really feel like this group is the perfect place for me to learn to be the best wife and partner I can.

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