Law School Graduation: Officially An Almost Lawyer!

Yesterday, our family closed a chapter in our lives. We finally graduated from law school. I say "we" because it was honestly a joint effort. People often ask me "How do you do it?"  The answer is simple: I don't do it alone.

I always knew I wanted to go to law school, but after Brooke was born, I knew it had to be a family decision. When I first spoke to him about it, Jimmy was supportive. And over the past three years, no matter how hard it got, he was always 100% behind me. I had stayed home with Brooke for the first sixteen months of her life, and when I started school Jimmy really stepped up and took on a lot of what I had been responsible for prior to that. When the laundry started to pile up, he took care of it. When the dirty dishes began to overtake the kitchen counters, he rolled up his sleeves and got to work. And when Brooke started to get restless in the house and Mommy needed to study, he dropped everything he was doing and took her to the park. The fact is, it's not possible for one person to do it all and do it 100%. Everyone needs a little help and Jimmy was always behind the scenes, picking up the pieces for me.

Not only did he help me with all of my "mommy duties," he also helped me in school. Every finals period (except for the couple he missed due to deployment), Jimmy was there, sitting up with me until 3:00 in the morning quizzing me on flashcards and running to the grocery store to buy me energy drinks. Every time I had to write an article, he would read my 40-page rough drafts over and over again, even though the topics were dry and daunting. He never complained.

Brooke and Bridget made a lot of sacrifices too. They had to deal with Mommy being gone during the day, coming home in the afternoon, and working the rest of the night. They have had to endure bedtime stories being read to them from law school textbooks (at least it never failed to put them to sleep). Poor Bridget was forced to attend a full year of law school in utero. (We are still waiting to see what will be the long-term effects of that sort of tortuous, pre-natal exposure. We only hope she will be able to lead a "normal" life one day). And both girls have had to deal with being suffocated by my over-compensating displays of affection brought on by three years of mother's guilt.

The fact is, it has been a journey and it has not been easy. But although my situation was unusual, my struggle was not unique. In law school, I have met several people, each with their own story, and each with their own unique obstacle. I met several single mothers/fathers who took on the challenge of law school in order to provide a better future for their children. I have met other military spouses who have chosen to take on their goals despite the unpredictable nature of their spouses career. I have met cancer survivors who discovered that life was too short to put off their dreams. And I have met a lot of people who grew up underprivileged and were the firsts in their family to attend college. I am convinced that there is no obstacle that is insurmountable. If you want something badly enough, you will do what it takes to get it done.

It is hard to describe what I felt when my doctrinal hood was draped over my shoulders, but nothing will measure up to how amazing it was to share that moment with my greatest accomplishments of all, my family.

Here is another behind-the-scenes person, my sister Audrey. She moved in with us for my first semester to help with Brooke. She flew out here from Idaho to celebrate with us!

Waiting for it all to begin. I was a little excited. =)



Getting hooded

Juris Doctor =)

Stay tuned for the next chapter: the Bar Exam!