Let’s just say that everything was a blur for me this past week from Tuesday to Friday. Just when I thought I had caught up with everything I had, boom … There I was again drowning in paperwork, hearings here, hearings there, clients calling, blah blah blah. Bottom line: I had a tough week!
I’m not going to say that being an attorney is all peachy and everything is perfect with the world. Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do. I love helping people … But sometimes I get those tough weeks. Weeks when I have a client basically mess up his whole case in the blink of an eye, weeks when a client I am representing could have just said “I’m guilty, give me the time” with the amount of information he gave to his arresting officer, and the weeks when a client is just too impatient. It is those weeks when I have to sit back and remember the better weeks, the wonder weeks as I like to call them. These are the weeks (or days) when a client who had been in Mexico for almost 5 years and away from his now 9 and 6 year olds gets his visa approved and reunites with them, when a parent who has worked hard for his child for over 20 years finally gets his residency approved & can go see his own parents, and even the weeks when I am able to settle a criminal case with favorable terms for my client. Those are the weeks when instead of clients yelling at the staff and I, we get flowers, candy, but most importantly we get heartfelt thank you’s.
There are weeks when I have court everyday, the killer ones are when I have immigration court in downtown LA at 8 AM. Basically this is because although only about 15 miles away from the courthouse, with LA traffic I have to start my drive at 6:30 AM. Which then means my day starts at about 5AM. I know many people have early wake up calls, for example my husband wakes up at I don’t know what time and is at his office by 6AM, willingly, since his office doesn’t even open until 8AM. But the difficult part is going to court early, going back to the office, and not making it back home until about 6:30 to 7 PM. And then you know, I have my little wild one waiting at home for a few adventures. In between our daily walk, the playing, reading, snack eating, and sleep time routine I don’t end up taking a shower or even having dinner until 9:30PM.
It’s those weeks when I spend more time awake than asleep. I find myself falling asleep with my eyes open as Nick is running around. It’s those days when I try to have him play “wrestling,” which basically entails mommy laying on the floor and him “attacking” me. Haha, I’m guilty of that.
At the end of the day, however, I truly do enjoy my career. I change lives, I save lives (metaphorically). And I have to be thankful that my stressful but enjoyable career gives me the opportunity, along with my husband, to give Nick the life he has. Because, no matter what… Since Nick came into my life, I do what I do, for him.
