My Law School Reunion (& My Photo Face)

This past weekend was my 10th Law School Reunion. And though I didn't feel it consciously, I think I was a bit anxious to go back. I mean, it's been a decade. And a lot has changed in that time. I've changed in that time. A lot, I think. In the past ten years, I began practicing law, got married, quit law, wrote a book, got pregnant, miscarried, got pregnant, had a baby, lost Dad, had another baby, started this blog, published the aforementioned book, had another baby, moved into a new home, dealt with anxiety, gave up wine for a year, went back to wine. (Confession: There was wine this weekend. Plenty of it.)

Well, you get the picture. And the picture is Change.

And Change is good. I'm all for change. But I think I felt it pretty acutely this weekend because I was in the company of so many people who are still lawyers, some partners, some professors, some government officials, people who have used their law degrees to go on to do quintessentially impressive and important things. I have not used my degree in an obvious, linear way; I credit law school and my brief stint at a law firm with leading me to my writing life, but it's not the same.

Anyway, I could go on and on about the weekend, but I won't. What I will say is that I talked to so many classmates, classmates I knew pretty well ten years ago and some I didn't know at all. And the the conversations, though greased with booze and muffled by music, felt genuine and real. There was a bartering of standard-issue details about where we all live, and what we are doing, whether we are married and with kids. I even asked people the names of their babies because you know how much I love baby names. But the point is, the really cool point is, there seemed to be very little judgment. We are all ten years out, doing our thing, being who it is we are now.

A true highlight of my weekend was spending oodles of time with three of my best law school friends. One friend is here in the city, but the other two flew in for the festivities and stayed here with us. Husband was a sweetie to allow us plenty of girl time and it was quality girl time. We laughed and reminisced about our younger selves. On Saturday night, after the big gala at Lerner Hall, instead of calling it a night we girls took a cab to a diner and sat outside until almost 2am, eating greasy food, talking and laughing some more.

Anyway, the reality is that I am really very exhausted from an insanely busy several days, but I wanted to come here and get something down about this weekend because it was important to me. I think it is good, and affirming, to go back to the places we have been, to revisit, to rethink, to see people we knew and those we wish we'd known better. I think it's good to take the time to honor who it is we were, to remember that earlier version of ourselves and our lives.

And now. Onward. Today is Middle Girl's final day of school and her big sister finishes Thursday. Today, I have a bread festival to attend and a performance of Annie to take in. Today I have a two-year-old to shuttle to and from the potty (her potty, by the way) and chapters to write. Today I am again that pony-tailed mom in yoga pants who totes her laptop everywhere and bemoans the speed at which the hours pass and the number of times per day her sweet babes beg for candy.

But once. Once? I was a law student. A happy, young, ambitious, clueless thing. And it was a privilege to be that girl. And a privilege this weekend to remember her.

Oh, and I will leave you with the following "selfie" I took Saturday night before heading to the big event. I was proud of curling my own hair and very excited to wear my new, funky Wanderlust earrings. Oh, and my friend J pointed out that I make an odd "duck face" in photos these days, a face that I never used to make. She said, "Maybe it's an author thing." Could be.

 

Do you enjoy reunions?

Who were you and what was life like 10 years ago?

How has Life changed in the last decade for you?

Do you have a default silly/serious Photo Face?