I saw this on another blog and thought it would be an interesting post so here goes...
2000: I was in my second semester of my first year of law school at LLS. I am in a study group with all guys. Arthur is a particularly annoying guy who does not know how to make his own sandwich and asks me to handle it for him during a study group session. I was glad when he transferred out at the end of the year. Brian tells me I will be a terrible wife and mother because I have no domestic skills and I can't cook. I tell him I don't want kids anyway. I lived next to the Beverly Center with a very very happy girl named Jill who I don't speak to anymore because she lost the cable boxes when we moved out and stiffed me with the bill. Good times. I went to Greece that summer to "study" abroad for 10 weeks...I got REALLY homesick. Got back and started my second year of law school.
2001: Still in law school. Really, that occupied most of my time and energy. I studied a lot. I got a job at a firm that summer and that firm is now no longer in existence. It taught me a lot about people and about how law firms work. I actually stayed at that firm until I graduated at which time they let me go when the two main partners went to work for a much larger firm. Nice timing. I know. In the Fall of 2001, I started my third and final year of law school and tried out for the Giles Sutherland Rich Moot Court team and made the team.
2002: I started my last semester of law school and started going to practice rounds for the Moot Court competition. We went to various Socal firms where we got drilled by attorneys at those firms to prepare us. At one of those firms, I met J. He talked to me by an elevator, he wasn't wearing a ring, and I liked him. But I was busy dating a guy my parents hated. When the competition ended, I sent him a thank you note, he asked me out to dinner...then he asked me to go dancing. I fell in love with J and called my best friend that night to tell her I'd marry him. The next day I dumped the guy my parents hated. In July 2002, I took the California State Bar. In August 2002, I went to Peru with J. In November 2002, I found out I passed the Bar which was AMAZING. So, I sent out 12000 resumes because I was unemployed. In December 2002, I sent an email to an attorney (Marc) who interviewed me at one point wishing him a Happy Birthday...we had the same birthday. He hired me and I went to work in January.
2003: I worked for a big downtown law firm. I wore suits every day (except Friday when I wore jeans). I met my good friend Liz and we had Starbucks and went to this breakfast burrito place all the time. It was awesome. I worked and worked and loved it. It was fun and good times. J proposed on March 20th, less than a year after our first date. We got married on August 30th. We honeymooned on the Cayman Islands. We moved into our condo in Los Al and we fought all the time except when we did not fight. J was building his parents' house so he went there every Saturday and most Sundays which was SUCH a HUGE point of contention. {{It is funny now because I am so happy when J leaves these days. Ha.}}
2004: Still working for the downtown law firm and then on St. Patrick's Day the shit hit the fan and Marc, the partner I worked for, leaves the firm. Everyone wanted me to stay but I felt my future was with Marc and I am a loyal person. So, I left the big downtown law firm. Marc is charismatic, interesting, smart. We raid the offices of a client of his that owes him some coin and we start working on the case that forced him to leave the firm. The office has orange Mr. Furley chairs and no light in the bathroom. Much, much drama ensues. Though it felt like crap, I resign and take an in house position at a nutritional supplement company as IP counsel starting January 2005.
2005: Here I am, working in house. There is no variability in the hours but the people are nice. I pass the patent bar. I work. I go to a meeting up in Gig Harbor, WA. The guys up there are not warm and fuzzy. They want an in house IP counsel up in Gig Harbor. I wouldn't move to Gig Harbor if you deeded me Gig Harbor. I get laid off and negotiate a nice severance package and then I am home, alone, trying to figure out what to do next. J tells me to start my own practice. He tells me that every day. I have no clients. Not a one. So, I print cards on my printer. Create a website and start my own practice. I network, all the time. I despise networking but I start getting clients. In July, we go to Greece and J meets my extended family. J sees me happy and getting clients and growing a practice. He decides to quit his job and join me. We start trying to have a baby.
2006: In January 2006, I find out that I am pregnant and am due October 1st. We still live in our little condo in Los Al but we are building a house in Pomona that we were going to sell. Neither of us commute anywhere anymore so it does not matter where we live. J convinces me that we should move to Pomona which should be ready before the baby is born. I concede with the strong proviso that we will not stay in Pomona any longer than we have to. {We are still in Pomona...sigh.} In September, we (VERY PREGNANT me and J) move to Pomona but there is no gas or electricity. I go to my parents house while Julio roughs it in Pomona. A pregnant woman in her ninth month has no business being in a 110 degree house that has no air conditioning. My OB tells me to have the baby any day but October 2nd because that is Yom Kippur and she is not working. I go into labor at 5 am on October 2nd and by 5:40 pm, I had my Lulo. My angel baby. Now, I am a new Mom. I live at my parents' house until the week before Thanksgiving and move home, to Pomona, with my baby and my J.
2007: I love Lulo. We move into the house that now has temporary electricity and gas. I have a series of college girls who are nannies. I work. I adjust. I become a fan of letting Lulo cry it out and schedules and nap time and meal time. It works for us. Lulo is a good baby. Happy. I think things are actually going kind of nice. I get pregnant again in August and the ultrasound shows one baby. In September, I start puking and literally cannot stop. I puke and puke and puke and puke and puke. I have never been sick so much in my entire life. I can keep nothing down. I drag myself to an appointment, alone, where another OB tells me that I am in fact carrying twins and that one of them appears to not be well, probably Turner's Syndrome. I need an CVS STAT. I admit myself to hospital. Get an IV for the afternoon since I am dehydrated and dying, literally. The next day I get my CVS. The next day I end up in the hospital again for a week because I still can keep nothing down. I am a mess - thyroid is off, heart is off because of thyroid, more puking. Kids not doing well. Lots of tears, lots of dilemmas. In November I find out, not Turner's actually, Twin Twin Transfusion Syndrome. Ultrasounds 2-3x a week. Tons of appointments, waiting, lots of unknown.
2008: The twins were viable (24 weeks gestation) on January 10, 2008 and that's when they admitted me to the hospital. J stayed home. Lulo moved in with my parents. My heart ached. I did not leave the hospital until after they were born on March 25th. Then, my miracles were born, Juju and Jojo. Amazing. It was quite a ride. Scary, frustrating. 2008 is a blur of tears and frustration and survival. I juggle and work and survive.
2009: All three boys and J are great. I look at myself and I am a heiff. I join Extreme Bootcamp and chronicle that on my blog, this blog which I started last year. I still do EB. I lost some weight, I gained some weight, I feel sooo much healthier. I work. I got nominated to be president elect of my local NAWBO chapter. I reconnect with people on Facebook. I fit into my clothes again. J and I start to have a more normal existence and resume a pattern. Lulo starts preschool and he grows and changes and talks all the time and is this little fabulous person who is into elephants and penguins and dinosaurs and challenging my patience and sanity. And, I am amazed and stunned by him. Juju and Jojo astound me. They are doing well. So well that I cannot believe how close I came to losing them and I just love to watch them and tickle them. I think they are all too cute for words, though, I clearly do not lack for words. We go to the Dominican Republic in August. We work. Our firm is doing well. We are growing. I can't and won't complain.
It's been quite a decade. You don't realize it until you write it down. I am blessed. I wonder what the next 10 will bring.
