Category Archives: WAHM

Just when you thought it was safe to reenter the workforce…

I have spent the past week now with a baby who has suffered fevers of between 102 and 104, and now lesions in his mouth making it nigh impossible to eat or drink much. I have not been sleeping well, eating well, or moving far from the couch. My arms haven’t been empty for more than a few minutes for seven days. He is  back to sleeping with us at night. I haven’t opened a case file or researched a legal topic in over a week. On the upside, I am watching the entire first season of House.

Thank god I don’t have a job to get fired from due to all the work I would be missing.

This week has really driven home my realization that a full time + job at this juncture would be a mistake, especially one with a two hour daily commute.

Added to that realization is my husband being assigned to another client, and once again having to travel a fair portion of the time. Someone has to be home to handle the perpetually sick children and increasing “tumble fur” issues, not to mention all the boundary setting and arguing that comes with a seven year old. (She never agrees to anything, aruges the fine points of everything we say, and simply chooses to act “with malice aforethought” a good portion of the time.)

One of us has to be here to do this, or at least have a job that allows us to take time off. Lee can’t really do that, and I can’t if I am supposed to be in court all the time.

These epiphany’s seem to come to me after traumatic events. That interview was so negative, it took me very little time to feel relieved that I saw that nature of that office before I made choices that would have committed me to full time child care and an inflexible schedule.

This week I finish the office, order my new computer, and get the ball running on advertising and announcement for my practice. At least I won’t fire me for taking sick days.

Crickets… and lizards.

Starting a practice is a truly demoralizing process. Realistically I know that I am not going to get phone calls for clients immediately, and that it will take time for me to get my name out there. I know this. However, after sending out information, emailing virtually everyone I know, and calling contacts for ideas and informational interviews, it’s hard not to take the silence personally.

Scree scree chirp

Well, not silence really, imaginary crickets. You know, the sound they play in movies when comedians make a joke and all you hear is a cricket in the background, indicating they suck.

I am hearing crickets. chirp scree

However, I am not giving the crickets a place to stay. Yesterday I began calling and emailing family law attorneys who do CFI work and pestering them for more informational interviewing. Maybe, just maybe, this will amount to a little overflow. I also began the process of accepting cases representing respondant parents in abuse cases. Not something I would normally want to do, but the good G.A.L.’s I know tell me to do it, so I can maintain a realistic view of the human side of parents, and better serve children in the long run. So…. I did it.

In the meantime, I accepted another environmental law case, this one filing for protection of the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard. It’s pretty darn cute, fairly shy, and won’t travel far from it’s natal shrub, which I find oddly endearing. (Click on the picture for your Wikipedia entry on my little critter.)

Dunes Sagebrush Lizard, photo from Adventure Space.com, posted by accorie 05-21-2008
Dunes Sagebrush Lizard, photo from Adventure Space.com, posted by accorie 05-21-2008

Well, it’s off to a limping, loping, stumbling start, but it’s off. A practice, of my own. Working in my jammies, with the sound of Disney’s Little Einsteins in the background. Bliss.

Now if only it would pay…

It’s like dating all over again…

48 hours ago I put on my best resume, a stunning linen cover letter with matching letterhead, and a full color glossy brochure. I went down to the courthouse to strut my stuff. I met some people who seemed as though they could be interested. I gave them my number. Now here I sit, waiting for the phone to ring.

Oh!! It rang! Is it GrandCentral??

Damn… just my mom. (No offense, Mom.)

Memories of dating push themselves into my mind. Getting all dolled up, going to a party, meeting some guy and thinking he’s cute, giving him my number when he asks for it. Then sitting, for days, perched near the phone with some book or something so I didn’t look like I was waiting for it to ring…

Will he call? Did he really like me? Maybe I was imagining things…

Shake Shake Shake C’mon! You’re a friggin adult starting a business, not some starry eyed singleton trying to date the hotty at the bar!!! Stand up! Shake it off!! DO NOT LOOK AT THE FRIGGIN PHONE AGAIN!

Ooohh!! It rang!! Is it GrandCentral???

No…. just my husband. Damn. (No offense honey.)

Maybe I used the wrong color of ink….