a milestone

October 12th marked one year at my job here in Santa Barbara (yikes!).

Since graduating college, I've been thinking more about how we measure time -- by school years, birthdays, new year's, anniversarys, etc. I have (for now) concluded that I want to mark time by all of these dates.

As I think about one year working after college, I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for what I have learned and the amazing people I have gotten to meet along the way. Here are a few of the things I've learned/appreciated after one year in medical billing...

1) The people you work with are just as important (maybe more important) than the job itself...I think that's self-explanatory, but I think sometimes we can get so wrapped up in what a job looks like on paper that we don't get to think about how our company/people treat each other. I've learned how important this is to me and how much I need to value it

2) Medical billing is interesting: maybe people disagree with me on that one, but I have honestly found a genuine interest in learning about insurance reimbursements, allowed amounts for CPT codes, insurance contracting, explaining how PPOs and EPOs and HMOs work, talking to doctor's, schedulers, and patients, learning the difference between ACL allografts and autografts, how much are supplies for an osteotomy or bunionectomy, etc.

3) Having a friend as your work partner is the biggest gift. I'm thankful for the email chats to one another while we're on hold with insurance companies, treating each other to americanos when we need a pick-me-up, encouraging each other to be bolder in getting to meet more people at the office, and understanding/putting up with each other (mostly me) when we're having a crappy day. One of the biggest things I enjoy about my job is working with my dear friend, Chloe (our desks are about 2 feet apart from each other :)) She's a huge gift for a hundred reasons, but working with her is one of those many reasons

4) Corporate Social Responsibility: did you know that companies that are for-profit can seek to impact their community and make a difference? Through tutoring junior highers to carpooling to work to dreaming about making an outdoor classroom at the Westside Boys & Girls Club, I've learned a lot about what corporate culture can look like and how it can be an influence beyond its office doors

5) Work can be satisfying and meaningful in unexpected ways: I didn't graduate with the hopes of working in medical billing, but I've found joy and satisfaction in my job -- from discovering new things about insurance to thinking about how to be an ethical business in how we collect money from patients, I'm really thankful for where I get to spend eight hours of my day

Excited for year #2!

a bench

A few weeks ago, Gordon College dedicated two benches for two lost loved ones: Dr. David Lumsdaine, a beloved professor of mine, and a first-year student named Monica who died in a car accident last spring. I was given the privilege of reading a passage of Scripture with two other students (friends of Monica) and the dedication also included two reflections from faculty and residence life staff, as well as a prayer recitation and word of dedication by our campus pastor.

But, why a bench?

I think the bench matters because if loving people is as important as it is, then remembering them (those whom we have loved, and those who have loved us back) is something we ought to pursue as well. And I can't think of a more fitting place to remember a person by than a bench: where conversations, peace, and rest, can all happen simultaneously (because all of this is exactly what he would have wanted).

The bench isn't there just to remember, although it will certainly help us to do so. The bench is also there to honor someone who loved deeply and genuinely. The bench is there so that we reflect on what that love meant to us and how we let it flow in our own lives. The bench is there because loss is real and deep -- and we need a place to gather around that loss.

I cried for the first time that afternoon for Dr. Lumsdaine.

It felt good to cry those tears there -- by that bench, with those people -- because that was his family, and they knew all the things that made him the unique man that he was.

The verses read in his honor got to me because they captured so much of his character. The reflections were moving because they showed that a community had come to love the unique and quirky sides of who he was. The prayers were comforting, as well as silencing, as we both grieved death, and rejoiced in future life together.

I'm really glad that bench is there -- sitting underneath a tree, in the middle of a busy intersection on campus that I crossed a hundred times, sometimes burdened by books and heavy thoughts, sometimes joyfully skipping with friends to get dinner. There's comfort in knowing there's a bench to return to when I go back. There's comfort knowing that I can sit on that bench in that place and know a friend or two who can share stories of who this man was, and how he was part of a college community that changed my life.

I think the bench is there for more than remembering and honoring; I think it's also there for comforting and giving peace.

And I smile as I put those thoughts together because I think that's exactly what Dr. Lumsdaine would have wanted (he always wanted to comfort, he always sought peace).

So, I'm thankful for that bench. Thankful for what it means and who it honors and the peace it brings. I didn't know a place to sit could bring all of those things.