happy in Hilliard

I am glad to report it's been a happy week here in Hilliard. Last Sunday Jon took me to the Blueberry festival at the local fair grounds. I bought blueberry jam, we ate blueberry lemonade and blueberry funnel cake, and he bought 6 lbs of fresh blueberries to take home with us. For dinner that night we had a special yummy meal called turkey tonato that Jon makes, with fried zucchini from the garden. Then there was the memorable cutting open of Jon's first watermelon from the garden. It was the kind with yellow flesh inside, and it so sweet and delicious. After that, there was blueberry pie.

On Monday, I started my psuedo-lawyer job. I got lost because the bridge I was supposed to take was closed, which sent me on a detour to another bridge, which got me accross the river but also took me off my google directions. I had to call my boss to find my way to the office. Luckily, she is the nicest law boss I could probably have found. She is only a few years out of law school. She tried running her own non-profit but when funding didn't come through, she started her own for-profit firm. We handle mostly family law cases. She shares an office with another female attorney, and there are no men, which I think makes the atmosphere more comfortable and supportive.

I have my own office. I do what most attorneys do right out of law school, which is research. I mostly look for cases which will help some case that Julie is working on. It can be intimidating when I don't know if I'm on the right track and it takes the entire day to find one case that is relevant. But, Julie is encouraging and is always thanking me for my help. I am confident that I have been trained well in legal research. Besides knowing very little about family law, I think I make a pretty capable intern.

I'm not getting paid, but this is very good practice. I am learning family law and I'm seeing a little bit about how to run a firm. Julie's job is not my ideal, but it's nice to know that I would be capable of doing it in the future.

I don't work Fridays, so yesterday I got to go shopping for wedding supplies. I found a berry garland and shoes.

Today we are going to the beach. Then we'll come home and prepare dinner for Uncle Walter's birthday. Tomorrow we're going to visit the local CHurch of Christ, and then go to Alicia's birthday party at her church (Jon's sister). In many ways life here in Hilliard is very simple. Every evening is spent eating and talking with family. Living with inlaws has its challenges and its rewards. It seems to me that this is what engaged couples through the ages have experienced- a time of waiting, in which the challenges will make us stronger and the rewards of being with family are great.

times gone by

As I finished my first year of law school, and quickly threw myself into social events at the start of summer vacation, I had to stop and pinch myself, to make sure I was still alive. There has been very limited social interaction during the last nine months. I was focused on a goal, and the only way I knew to succeed was to shut out most everything else. When I wasn’t studying, I reflected on past years to remember all the reasons I had come to law school. But I was very disengaged from the world I claim to care about. And I had almost no interaction with the people I say I want to help with my degree. I spent more time talking on the phone than I did talking to people in person. Still, I have completed the first, most difficult year.
Now that I’m around people again, I have to remember who I am, or find out who I am now. Law school and living alone have led me to be a more forceful person, but is that the kind of person I want to be? Maybe yes maybe no. And what about all the lessons I have learned in the past; about God, about myself in relation to him, and about the way the way the world turns and how I want to live in it? These are lessons I have accumulated over the past 23 years, from birth to childhood to college; through family, friends, and adventures sought out or handed to me.
But the experiences that we have are never lost on us. No matter what, they affect us and become a part of us. I am thankful for so much. I am thankful for a sweet, sweet childhood. I am thankful for a loving family; for our hikes in the woods, and for all the simple and imaginative play I had as a kid. Things like play are never the aim of a distinguished scholar, and they do not create the climax in a play. But I believe imagination through play is core to the human spirit. It is important that I work and that I serve and that I ask questions, but it is equally important that I enjoy the richness of the little moments I find myself in and embrace life like a child.
For a few days I got to watch my 2 year old niece play, and I felt joyful that she is secure in her parents’ love, and so she is free to explore the contours of her imagination. Then I felt sad that she would not remember the time we fed the ducks or the walk we went on where her daddy picked her up so she could touch all the trees. But even though those memories will not stay with her, they will remain a part of her, and I take joy in knowing that all my moments; big and small, have made me who I am.