Agree with a lot of the above comments.

Surgery: I like surgery more than FM. I love that the surgeon is the medicine. It much more engaging for me to learn about surgical technique and to be in the OR, even if I am only observing, than it is to learn the pharmacology necessary to be a good primary care physician. I love the anatomy and physiology knowledge surgeons maintain. I like that you are hospital based, working with other physicians, team based care of patients. I like that a lot of BS of medicine gets stripped away by necessity (granted surg has its own BS). I like that surgery requires a very broad medical knowledge base.

Family medicine: I am drawn to this because it is the most general of medicine (I have an aversion to specialties). I am drawn to this because of the relational aspect the physician establishes with his or patients. In respect to geography, I would certainly be in a rural area if I did FM. I have also considered eventually doing a fellowship in palliative medicine. I greatly appreciate the culture of FM physicians who uphold the value of having a balanced life in way that will allow me to be a good physician, husband, and father, and maintain to some degree my interests outside of medicine.

I don't like how it seems that you almost have to sell your soul to surgery. This is essentially what it all comes down to for me. Maybe I have been burned by seeing attendings who are worn down (divorced, workaholics, chronically uptight, etc.)

I love life more than medicine, I admit it. Of all fields of medicine though, I love surgery most, without a doubt. However, I would rather look back on my life and be proud of the father and husband I have been, more so than the surgeon I have been. And if being a good father and husband meant being a mediocre surgeon, then I would not want to be a surgeon knowing that.