I know I am not a real lawyer...

But could everyone stop reminding me of that? I know, as a Legal Aid lawyer, that, like a Public Defender, I am not a "real" lawyer. I know that I clearly did not go to law school. And I know that I didn't pass a real bar exam. I know I don't practice real law, and I don't REALLY have to bill my time. And I know all of this because I don't bill my client, so there for my time is not real, and the law I practice is not real.

So since I know all of this, could you PLEASE stop reminding me? Thanks in advance!

Hiking in the Moonlight...

Yesterday, 2 of my best friends and I hiked Giant Mountain. This is the second hike I ahve taken with these two, and, much like our Mt. Marcy hike of many years ago, it was a heck of a lot of fun. Now understand that one of the guys hikes all the time, and the other never hikes at all. And then there is me, with no legs and a whole lot more desire then talent, as it were. So off we went, starting the mountain about 3 hours later then we had planned to start. And, as per the norm of our hikes, we ended up hiking the majority of the way down in the dark. We summited about 15 minutes before sunset, and hiked the first mile mostly by moonlight.

Here's the funny part. We stopped at one point, and we were sitting there, pretty much in the dark. We had stopped at one fo the trail junctions to take a break, about two-thirds of the way down, since it was a flat area, for once. I was sitting on a long, one of my friends was lying on the ground, and my other friend was attempting to light his cigar, and was failing because the wind kept blowing. And I got this weird sense of utter fimilarity. I said, "It's so perfect that you are trying to light your cigar, it just makes this so normal." And my other friend started laughing, since apparently he was having the exact same thought. One of them said it best, as we were hiking in the dark, which was such a bad idea,"This trip is so us." And it was. These guys have been my friends since third and fifth grade. We've known each other for pretty much all of our waking lives, and there is something just awesome about that. Whether we are hanging out in someones backyard, going out to a bar, or hiking a mountain in the dark, these are my friends. I can't imagine my life without them, and I don't think I'd want to.

Athletics and Age

There comes a time in every athlete's life where he or she begins to wonder if maybe they should stop playing. Maybe not every sport, but you begin to wonder if the benefits of playing still outweighs the negatives. You contemplate that maybe, just maybe, you are in fact "too old for this."

My first brush with this feeling occurred when I started law school. I was asked by a college teammate who lived in the area if I wanted to play club rugby. Now I loved playing rugby in college. I loved the challenge, I loved the running, I loved the mud, and I loved the hitting. Rugby was my kind of sport. But when my friend asked me if I wanted to play, all I could think was how much I was spending educating these brain cells of mine, and how many I had probably destroyed with the last concussion I had received. So I declined, because as much as I loved playing, I had that whole "responsible adult" thing going on in the back of my mind.

Fast forward to today, where I once again contemplate my own mortality. I now play co-ed softball, in a modified fast pitch league, as I have been for the past 3 years. I love playing, I love my team. But I have been a pitcher for the past 3 years, and I have seen my share of injuries. After all, the pitcher in softball stands 43 feet from the batter. Batters who are frequently very large men, swinging shiny metal bats. Batters who, at times, have a tendency to hit the ball directly back at me. And, due to the very short distance, and very fast nature of the ball, have hit me a number of times. The most recent incidence of this has left me with a bone bruise on my left leg, and put me on crutches for well over half a week (should ahve been longer, but I HATE crutches.)

These bruises, particularly the one currently causing me much pain and annoyance, leads me to wonder, "am I getting to old for this?" I don't heal as well as I used to. And frankly, I do not want to have to go to court with a black eye, or a lump on my head, and have to explain, again, that it is from softball, and no, one of my client's husbands did not beat me up.

I know darn well that I am not gonna quite softball. On the all and all, it is a wonderful and mostly harmless sport. But maybe I'll cut back on pitching a bit. After all, I DID spend a lot of money educating these brain cells. :-)