Another Doctor in the Family

When writing about Abigail's Match Day in March, I mentioned that her medical school commencement ceremony would be in May. Well, that happened this weekend, for which our family made the trip to Miami, Florida. (Abigail attended the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine on the island of St. Maarten, but their administrative offices are in Miami, so that's also where they hold commencement each spring.)

Susan and our daughters got to Miami on Friday and relaxed together at a house that we had rented for the weekend. Because of work, I waited until Saturday to fly in and join them. After Saturday's commencement, yesterday we had a relaxing pool day (our rental had a backyard pool), and today we returned home. Check out some photos below of the festivities in Florida.

(Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

AUC holds their commencement ceremony at the Watsco Center at the University of Miami. Before the ceremony started, it was fun to see "Dr. Abigail Moberg" appear in rotation on the digital scoreboard overhead! Also, her photo and biography appeared in the program because she was the student speaker! Her classmates had voted ahead of time and selected her to represent them.

Because Abigail was a speaker, AUC reserved seating for us near the stage. Our location gave us a good view of her as she processed in with her classmates.

Fun fact: Because AUC's main campus is on a Caribbean island, they have a Miami drum corps play "Pomp and Circumstance" on steel drums in an arrangement that has a distinctive island flair. It was great!

Here is Abigail just a few steps away from being hooded on stage by one of the medical school faculty. (Like her classmates, she stood facing the audience while a professor draped her doctoral hood over her head and around her shoulders.) Her official graduation was August 29, 2025, upon completion of all her requirements ... but it seemed to make it "official" to see the hooding and hear the "Dr. Abigail Grace Moberg" announced to the crowd!

Abigail's commencement address was terrific: full of insider references that were meaningful to her classmates and professors while still being accessible to the rest of us in the crowd, and a nice balance of looking back and looking forward.

Family photo: Jacob (Suzanna's fiancé), Suzanna, Dr. Abigail, Hillary, Susan, and Dr. Kevin

Susan arranged for there to be food in the rental house for the weekend's meals, and she had this beautiful cake made for us to celebrate with Abigail after the ceremony.

Another family pic!

Yesterday morning we had a delicious brunch at Sunny Side Cafe and Eatery. Seated between Suzanna and Abigail is the girls' friend Haley, whom they have known since childhood. Haley, Madison, and Elise are three Dickinson-area friends who spent the weekend in Miami with us for Abigail's commencement!