Any resident will tell you that there are a few days that are particularly memorable in a given year of their training. There’s the first night on call on a new service, and the first time that a patient dies; there’s also match day (when it becomes official that an entire new group of medical students has been chosen to become interns at your program, allowing you to advance another year).

Pediatrics residents have another added day, though: the day that it becomes clear that winter has ended. On this day, the frenetic pace of admissions and discharges melts away, and — gasp! — there are empty beds in the hospital. Likewise, we have a chance to sit down once or twice, and maybe even learn something about our patients. While I was in Texas, winter ended here in New York, and I couldn’t be happier.