When I was younger, time seemed to go by very slowly, and I paid little attention to it. At the ripe old age of 44, I have begun to notice certain events that mark the change in time. In my personal life, the most significant markers of time are my children. Looking at my 11-year-old son who is beginning to show signs of his future adulthood, and my five-year-old daughter who grows bigger and acquires new skills every day, I have begun to see the passage of time. In my professional life, there are also two events that emphasize time’s passage: graduation and residency interviews.

I am here in Frisco, Texas at the CASPRR/CRIP residency interviews for the 2017 cycle. In addition to the interviews themselves, which reintroduce some of my current students after a long break, there are social events in which I have the opportunity to meet up with some of my prior students. In fact, as time has gone by, an increasing number of them are graduating residency. I have known some of these individuals now for seven or more years, and when they first began school, they seemed like children. Now, they are coming to the residency interviews as senior residents or recent graduates about to start their own active clinical practices.

This is incredibly exciting and heartwarming for me to see. They’ve gone through training and are moving on to the next step in their careers, either starting residency or practice. What more can an educator ask for?

The other day during surgery, one of my senior residents performed a particular surgical maneuver, demonstrating her proficiency. I commended her on her work, and her response was, “I remembered what you taught me three years ago.” I’d forgotten that I was the one that had taught her that skill, but it was truly rewarding to see how far she had come and what a good foot and ankle surgeon she was. It’s that change from the neophyte to the mature physician that helps mark the time.

Back here in Frisco, I also had the opportunity to notice that I’m still on the early side of a podiatric career, having met some new friends who have been at this much longer than me. There are people out there who have been on the front lines of teaching our next generations for 30+ years and more! These people work day in and day out, quietly doing the work of training podiatric physicians, a job that is not easy. They have been in the trenches teaching and molding literally generations of podiatrists. Just imagine the accumulated knowledge these educators must have. Imagine how time must seem to have passed for them!

I find it pleasantly ironic that the residency interviews occur only two weeks after the start of the New Year. Just as the year begins anew, so do the careers of our young trainees. This time of year makes me fully aware of the inexorable flow of time, but instead of being sad as I grow older, the continuation of all of our legacies in the next generation fills me with hope and excitement for the future. Mark your time and be happy.