Big Week

For those of you taking the California bar this week, I wish you all the best. It is my opinion that it's not a test of law at all, but rather a test of composure and performance under stress. So, if you get stuck, I suggest you remind yourself that you have exactly two jobs while you are in that oh-so-comfortable seat, surrounded by stress-cadets:

breath and type (or write)

That's it. If you do that, and you know a bit of law (which you probably do, since you probably totally over-studied), you will be fine.

Over here in lawyer land, I'll be going through a similar exercise. I am pretty sure that I have more work lined up for the next 5 days than I have for any week thus far as a lawyer, except, maybe, during the 18-days-straight-on-the-merger-from-hell.

This time, I helped create my situation by insisting that I get a weekend. I needed it. Particularly, because I needed to be with my sister and brother (and niece!) for a day of remembrance of dad in preparation for the sad reality of the one year anniversary of his death. I did no work yesterday. Instead, I woke early, showered at brother's, went to the grocery store and bought roses for dad (and a balloon for my niece), and went to the cemetery.

The cemetery we chose is gorgeous. Up in the Sierra Nevada foothills, surrounded by trees and under a perfect blue sky, we hugged and cried and told stories of our favorite memories of dad. We left the roses (sister brought some too) and the balloon amongst the more permanent items that people have left.

I felt such a sense of relief after my tears fell. I'm glad we decided to do this ceremony of sorts before the actual anniversary. I feel more prepared to handle what will undoubtedly be a sad, sad, day.

After our shared sadness, we shared food and a beer at dad's favorite deli. We languished in the heat. We visited our mother at her new house and I smiled while brother and niece swam in the pool, playing childhood summer water games.

After the long drive home, I couldn't bring myself to work. I was exhausted from a weekend of recruiting events and emotional release.

Instead, I read the binders of recipes I got from my mom containing recipes my grandmother had collected over the years. What gems! Then, I had a nice long phone conversation with jaykay while I cooked dinner, a luxury in which I hadn't indulged in a very long time.

For dinner, I created a delicious spicy-bacon-swiss risotto. Not exactly healthy, but I figured I needed the wife points for the week that's in the pipeline. It was delicious and E finished the whole pan with gusto.

I was asleep before 10 PM.

And now, my friends, I'm preparing for the week of battle. I suspect I'll have 5 *very* long days. My non-law goals for the next 5 days are: 1) to still fit in my taper runs before next week's race; 2) to be present and not distracted with E for at least 30 minutes each day; and 3) to get enough sleep.

Wish me luck.