Slow Night, So Long (Season 7, Episode 9)

We doctors take pride in the fact that we can basically sleep standing up.  Anytime.  Anywhere.  But, it's a false pride, because the truth is, after about twenty hours hours without sleep, we might as well just come to work drunk, doctor, or not.  So, it's no wonder that fatal medical errors increase at night, when we doctors are, proudly, sleeping on our feet.  Recently, our communal pride has been shattered, and our egos have been wounded by new laws that require that we sleep all day before we work all night.  We're not happy about it, but, as someone who may one day need medical care, you really should be. 

Under the cover of darkness, people do things they'd never do under the harsh glare of day.  Decisions feel wiser.  People feel older.  But when the sun rises, you have to take responsibility for what you did in the dark, and face yourself under the cold, harsh light of day.

Something's Gotta Give (Season 7, Episode 8)

The human body is a highly pressurized system.  The blood pressure measures the force of blood pulsating through the arteries.  It's important to keep this pressure regulated.  Low or inadequate pressure can cause weakness or failure.  It's when the pressure gets too high that problems really occur.  If the pressure continues to increase, a closer examination is called for because it's the best indicator that something is going terribly wrong. 

Every pressurized system needs a relief valve.  There has to be a way to reduce the stress, the tension, before it becomes too much to bear.  There has to be a way to find relief, because if the pressure doesn't find a way out, it'll make one.  It will explode.  It's the pressure we put on ourselves that's the hardest to bear.  The pressure to be better than we are.  The pressure to be better than we think we can be.  It never, ever lets up.  It just builds and builds and builds.

Begin the Begin (Season 2, Episode 13)

Fresh starts.  Thanks to the calendar, they happen every year.  Just set your watch to January.  Our reward for surviving the holiday season is a new year, bringing on the great tradition of New Year's resolutions.  Put your past behind you and start over.  It's hard to resist the chance at a new beginning.  A chance to put the problems of last year to bed. 

Who gets to determine when the old ends and the new begins?  It's not a day on a calendar, not a birthday, not a new year.  It's an event.  Big or small.  Something that changes us.  Ideally, it gives us hope.  A new way of living and looking at the world.  Letting go of old habits, old memories.  What's important is that we never stop believing we can have a new beginning.  But it's also important to remember that amid all the crap are a few things really worth holding on to. 

Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (Season 2, Episode 12)

It's an urban myth that suicide rates spike at the holidays.  Turns out, they actually go down.  Experts think it's because people are less inclined to off themselves when surrounded by family.  Ironically, that same family togetherness is thought to be the reason that depression rates actually do spike at the holidays.

There's an old proverb that says you can't choose your family.  You take what the fates hand you.  And like them or not, love them or not, understand them or not, you cope.  Then there's the school of thought that says the family you're born into is simply a starting point.  They feed you and clothe you and take care of you until you're ready to go out into the world and find your tribe.

Owner of a Lonely Heart (Season 2, Episode 11)

Forty years ago the The Beatles asked the world a simple question.  They wanted to know where all the lonely people came from.  My latest theory is that a great many of the lonely people come from hospitals.  More precisely, the surgical wing of hospitals.  As surgeons, we ignore our own needs so we can meet our patient's needs.  We ignore our friends and families so we can save other people's friends and families.  Which means that at the end of the day, all we really have is ourselves.  And nothing in this world can make you feel more alone than that.

Four hundred years ago, another well-known English guy had an opinion about being alone.  John Donne.  He thought we were never alone.  Of course, it was fancier when he said it.  "No man is an island entire unto himself."  Boil down that island talk, and he just meant that all anyone needs is someone to step in and let us know we're not alone.  And who's to say that someone can't have four legs?  Someone to play with, or run around with, or just hang out.

Much Too Much (Season 2, Episode 10)

When you were a kid, it was Halloween candy.  You hid it from your parents and ate it until you got sick.  In college, it was the heady combo of youth, tequila, and well, you know.  As a surgeon, you take as much of the good as you can get, because it doesn't come around nearly as often as it should.  Good things aren't always what they seem.  Too much of anything, even love, is not always a good thing. 

How do you know how much is too much?  Too much, too soon?  Too much information? Too much fun?  Too much love?  Too much to ask? And when is it all just too much to bear? 

That's Me Trying (Season 7, Episode 7)

Question: When was the last time a complete stranger took off her clothes in front of you, pointed to a big purple splotch on her back, and asked, "What the hell is this thing?"  If you're a normal person, the answer is, hopefully, never.  If you're a doctor, the answer is probably, "about five minutes ago."  People expect doctors to have all of the answers.  The truth is, we love to think that we have all of the answers too.  Basically, doctors are know-it-alls, until something comes along that reminds us we're not.

We're all looking for answers.  In medicine.  In life.  In everything.  Sometimes, the answers we're looking for have been hiding just below the surface.  Other times, we find answers when we didn't even realize we were asking the question.  Sometimes, the answers can catch us completely by surprise.  And sometimes, even when we find the answer we've been looking for, we're still left with a whole hell of a lot of questions.

Thanks for the Memories (Season 2, Episode 9)

Gratitude.  Appreciation.  Giving thanks.  No matter what words you use, it all means the same thing.  Happy.  We're supposed to be happy.  Grateful for friends, family, happy to just be alive, whether we like it or not.

Maybe we're not supposed to be happy.  Maybe gratitude has nothing to do with joy.  Maybe being grateful means recognizing what you have for what it is.  Appreciating small victories.  Admiring the struggle it takes simply to be human.  Maybe we're thankful for the familiar things we know.  And maybe we're thankful for the things we'll never know.  At the end of the day, the fact that we have the courage to still be standing is reason enough to celebrate.

Let it Be (Season 2, Episode 8)

In the eighth grade, my English class had to read Romeo and Juliet. Then, for extra credit, Mrs. Snyder made us act out all the parts.  Sal Scararillo was Romeo.  As fate would have it, I was Juliet.  All the other girls were jealous.  But I had a slightly different take.  I told Mrs. Snyder that Juliet was an idiot.  For starters, she falls for the one guy she knows she can't have.  Then she blames fate for her own bad decision.  Mrs. Snyder explained to me that when fate comes into play, choice sometimes goes out the window.  At the ripe old age of 13, I was very clear that love, like life, is about making choices.  And fate has nothing to do with it.  Everyone thinks it's so romantic.  Romeo and Juliet.  True love.  How sad.  If Juliet was stupid enough to fall for the enemy, drink a bottle of poison, and go to sleep in a mausoleum, she deserved whatever she got.

Maybe Romeo and Juliet were fated to be together, but just for a while.  And then their time passed.  If they could have known that beforehand, maybe it all would have been ok.  I told Mrs. Snyder that when I was grown up, I'd take fate into my own hands.  I wouldn't let some guy drag me down.  Mrs. Snyder said I'd be lucky if I ever had that kind of passion with someone.  And that if I did, we'd be together forever.  Even now, I believe that for the most part, love is about choices.  It's about putting down the poison and the dagger and making your own happy ending, most of the time.  And that sometimes, despite all your best choices and all your best intentions, fate wins anyway.