I worked hard in my private practice for 25 years. When I turned 57, I decided to make a change and spend more time doing what I love – sailing. I sold my home, my office, my car, my truck, and everything else I owned that wouldn’t fit on my 36 foot Beneteau.
I spent the next several years having the time of my life sailing in the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, and up the west coast of Central America and Mexico. All of these places get a bit dodgy during hurricane season, so I would come back to the U.S. and work for a few weeks or months, depending on the bank account, doing locum tenens work in some great places, such as Minnesota (in the fall) and California (in the winter).
When the hurricanes subsided, I’d head back to the Eclipse and enjoy the ocean again. Locum tenens jobs have been great to me—and provided the freedom to live the lifestyle I desired. Now my kids have kids and I share my time between New England and New Mexico, again supporting any extra expenditures with locum tenens physician jobs. Poor Eclipse is “on the hard” in Napa, but she is patiently waiting for the grandkids to be old enough to haul on a halyard or weigh an anchor. Then it will be back to the deep blue sea (and work only in the autumn) for all of us.
Tom H., M.D.
Locum Tenens Physician
New Mexico
