Happy Valentine's Day, Rutgers Law!

Recently, I bumped into faithful reader, and I got the impression that my posts have become a bit of a downer lately.  I read back over them and noted that my themes have touched upon unemployment, bad credit, extreme stress, and just a general "what have you done for me lately" attitude. It was never my intention to make people have to hide their virtual belts and shoelaces after reading my posts, so I apologize for seeming like a legal grump.

In honor of Valentine's Day, and inspired by the recent ABA Journal Article "Why I Love Being a Lawyer (Seriously)", I thought I would post some of the things that I have loved, and still love, about being a law student.  Consider this my "Ode to the Atrium*."

1. The People:  I have met some of the coolest, funniest, most brilliant people at law school.  The faculty's not bad, either.  But I'm talking here about my fellow students.  It gives me a lot of hope in the future when I realize that the people around me in class are going to be taking care of the laws, cases, and issues of our society.  (Of course, a few of them scare the hell out of me as well, but I'm trying to keep this post focused on the positive).
2. The Learning: Yes, the book-learnin' has been great, but the conversations with people about things we have read, or things going on in the world are fascinating. I have learned a lot about different points of view, and I have even begun to change my own eternally-grounded views about certain things.  For instance, New Jersey isn't a complete wasteland.  It has great diners. And apparently there are mountains somewhere, but I have yet to confirm this.
3. The Challenge: Going to law school, at any time, under any circumstances, is difficult. You have a lot of things, facts, laws, rules, jargon, crammed into your head all at once, and your entire fate is determined by how well you regurgitate everything in one final exam.  The studying, the memorizing, the discipline that it has taken in order to succeed in law school, has been a challenge.  Just knowing that I have stepped up to the challenge, and have seen my way through almost all of it now, gives me a great amount of . . .
4. The Pride: Damn right I'm proud of what I have accomplished so far.  Sure, lots of people graduate law school every year, and lots of them are evening students.  But, no two law students have had the same journey. I have done everything I could do while in law school, and taken advantage of almost every opportunity that came my way.  I'm pretty proud of that, and I know my friends and family are as well.If you are in law school right now (especially if you are an evening student), step back, take a deep breath, and congratulate yourself.

There are things that I have also hated about law school, but like all relationships, you have to take the good with the bad if you're going to commit. Law school has offered me opportunities, built friendships, and made me break out of my comfort zone. If it occasionally forgets my birthday or doesn't pick up its socks, I can deal with that.  I would do it all over again. So, I hope this post has made you think about the things you have loved about law school. Valentine's Day is all about taking that one day out to remember and reflect on the things in our life that we love - because we can always bitch about them the rest of the year.

Happy Valentine's Day, faithful reader!

*Rutgers Law School reference