Southeast Texas Medical Associates, LLP James L. Holly, M.D. Southeast Texas Medical Associates, LLP


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Each morning when I arise, I see each of these in my “home office/library,”. The letter is my “letter of acceptance” to UT Health San Antonio School of Medicine from November 22, 1968,  The picture is an original watercolor presented to Carolyn and me by UT Health at our retirement celebration, November 29, 2018.  

It is sobering to have in the letter the promise for the future of a lifetime and in the watercolor the memory of that life.

These are daily reminders of the beginning and end of a career which defined our lives. They are a constant reminder that while we have a great deal of life to live, the heart of our life has been cut out.

More than a lamentation, this is a realization of the fact. Each day is filled with gratitude and with thanksgiving for having been blessed with the opportunity to be a physician.  This gratitude is balanced by a realization that I could have done it better.  That reality is not borne of regret or depression but of the humility of reality.

I am thankful for these bookends of our lives.  They are preceded by the decision to pursue medicine and by my premedical studies; they are succeeded by the task and career of retirement.  Both were and  are a part of a rich, full life.

It is almost 6 AM. Carolyn and I are preparing to depart on a favorite day-trip to Abbeyville, Louisiana, to New Iberia and to Avery Island.  

Just the thought of a trip which we have made dozens of times fills my heart with joy. Sharing it with a sister-in-Christ whom I met in September 1962 makes it complete.