By popular request

First off, thank you so much for the amazing outpouring of love and support regarding my recent news of acceptance. I am grateful to be in at BYU, we shall see what these other schools say.

NOW, there was a request a few posts back, a request for me to tell WHY IN THE WORLD I AM GOING TO LAW SCHOOL! And, because I do not want to let my readership down, I shall tell this tale. Get RIVETED! To understand the whole picture, I need to start at the beginning...the very beginning.

When I was a young lady, my father decided to go back to law school. Naturally, this was a painstakingly difficult decision for my parents. I am the youngest of three. My brothers were both in high school, I was in middle school, and this would mean quite a change in our financial circumstances. But my parents went forward with faith, my mother went back to work as a first grade teacher and my dad went to law school full time. Watching my dad go through law school put a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing. Many of the most difficult memories I have relating to my growing up, take place during this period. As a result, I swore to myself that though I was certain I could be anything, I would never be a lawyer.

Fast forward a few years, I entered college. I was excited to see what I could do for the world. I was set on becoming a doctor. I was planning to study International Relations while getting in all of pre-requisites for medical school. The night before my first day of college, I had a total melt down. I was too intimidated by my stack up of classes, and the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like a good idea to just put off chemistry a semester. So I did. In that first semester, A LOT of experiences steered me toward a study abroad in Paris. I had never really had much of an interest in France, but everything just kind of fell into place and that kicked chemistry out another two semesters since I needed to take French 101 before I was allowed to go and then the study abroad itself took up a semester.

The more and more I have reflected back on this series of events, the more I have realized that going to France was a pivotal changing point in my life. I honestly wonder now if I ever would have been able to come to the conclusions that I did while I was there if I had remained at BYU. I think I am just stubborn enough that I had to get entirely out of the country to feel insecure enough to humble myself some. Needless to say...I never did end up taking chemistry in college.

While in Paris, I was confronted with where I was really going in life, and the more I reflected about my decision to go through medical school, the more my resolve weakened. I knew that I could go to medical school, but just because I COULD didn't mean I SHOULD. So, I began considering other options, other ways to help people, other ways to indulge in my insatiable curiosity about the world, other ways to make a difference...but NOT LAW. That was the only option I steered clear of entirely. For about a month, I thought daily about what I should do and why I was there in Paris, what important thing I needed to learn. THEN, one night, I sat in my room listening to various talks from some very inspiring women. Should you want to listen to these talks, this is the link. In these talks, my mind was caught up in the quandary of what I should do with my life. I was certain of one thing, I KNEW that at some point hopefully I would be a mother, and I wanted to be the best mother that I could be. So then I began to ask myself, what should I study to become the best mother I could be...and the answer will likely surprise you as much as it did me. LAW. I am telling you it was as clear as a bell...I practically heard someone say it to me.

And yet, despite this overwhelming assurance, this strike of clarity regarding my life...I was a reluctant follower. For another month, I studied this out in my mind and thought about it often in my heart. I couldn't deny that I knew that this is what I was supposed to do, but my goodness I didn't want to.

I finally told my parents about a month after I had this experience. I knew they would be excited for me, because they are always supportive and excited for me, but I knew my dad would be especially excited, because he truly loves law with all his heart.

This experience happened about three years and two months ago. Since that time, I have taken the steps needed to ensure I would be able to attend law school, but I have considered and earnestly desired other fields. This has been one of the most difficult choices for me in my life. I know that I have been blessed in many ways to be able to move forward with this choice most especially the most supportive husband a girl could ask for in this regard...that man is honestly willing to pick up and go to school wherever I want...crazy talk! But I still struggle to know why I am supposed to go and what I will do with it. At times, I feel that I have had a small glimpse...but never enough to answer that big question of WHY? So for now, I am going into that first day with my fingers crossed :-) Wish me luck!