My daughter wants to be a double doctor (I don't know what else to call it)

 

That's my kid on the left, performing surgery on a pig.

Until a few weeks ago, my master's in Integrated Marketing Communications made me the most educated person in our family.

I proudly held this title the moment West Virginia University conferred on me that M.S. degree back in the summer of 2020, the culmination of a two years of very hard work.

Four of our children have college degrees, but prior to August 2, 2024, they were all at the Bachelor's level. I reigned supreme for four glorious years as the most-schooled person in our family of seven.

That ended three weeks ago when my daughter Chloe successfully defended her thesis and became known as Dr. Chloe Edmonds, having earned a very well-deserved PhD in neuroscience. I was more than happy to yield my crown to her as Most Schooled Tennant.

But get this: Now she wants to go to medical school. I have heard of M.D./PhDs before, and I have even met a couple. I just never imagined that any of our offspring would be so ambitious as to become a doctor twice over.

If all goes according to plan, Chloe will enter med school in the fall of 2026. Her goal now is to be a pediatric neurology physician researcher.

If my assumptions and math are correct – four years of medical school, four years of residency, a two-year fellowship – Chloe will be about 40 years old by the time she is fully in practice.

The world needs people like her, of course. People are who willing to undertake complex medical research. People who work tirelessly to address a particular disease or condition.

People who are OK taking on a massive amount of student loan debt.

Today's post is an unashamedly sorry-not-sorry form of bragging about my daughter. It also represents a heartfelt thanks to Chloe, on behalf of the rest of society, for her commitment to advancing medical science.

And it's my non-check-writing way of wishing her the heartiest good luck in paying down that debt.