Dr. Ruth Ann Parish, a pediatrician and mother of two, shares both her medical expertise and her spiritual insights in this collection of short meditations made-to-order for the busy new parent.
I was born a long, long time ago in Coos County, Oregon, and moved to Indiana when I was 8 months old. I attended Kindergarten-7th grade at Traders Point (Pike Twp.), outside Indianapolis, Indiana, and 8th-12th grades in Beaverton, Oregon (when it had grass and trees). I graduated Bryn Mawr College in Anthropology (with Honors), near Philadelphia, PA and then went to Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. After Residency in Pediatric Medicine and a Fellowship in Pediatric Emergency Medicine at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, I dragged my husband and young daughter to the Seattle area, where I began working at Harborview Medical Center (the regional burn and trauma unit for WA, AK, MT and ID). After 5 years at HMC, and one more child (a boy), I moved to the east side of Lake Washington where I went into a private practice setting, while continuing to teach clinical medicine at the University of Washington and Seattle Children's Hospital. I have now been in the Kirkland office setting for 20+ years, and have loved watching a whole generation of children grow up to become who they were created to be. I truly have the best job in the world!
I took piano and drum/percussion lessons and then taught myself guitar, bass guitar and elements of composition. It is my goal to (someday) become a Renaissance Woman, and the motto which keeps me going (besides "If God is for me, who can stand against me?") on a daily basis is "life is too short to wear boring socks!" My musical compositions have been performed on 6 continents, and I play a mean game of racquetball twice a week. My little electric car and I commute to work each day, in my attempt to begin the process of becoming an eccentric little old lady . . . it takes time and dedication.
Parish's Four Laws of Pediatrics:
1. Parents do better with sleep.
2. All patients get 50% better as soon as they walk through the door to the doctor's office.
3. Life's too short not to have fun.
4. Things change.
Soli Deo gloria
