I worked a lot this week- never a late night, but insanely busy days. And I liked it, I was good at it, and on Friday around 2 p.m. the partner on the case turned to me and said, "you know, you're setting the bar very high for yourself." One of the things I miss most from school are the finals- not the tests themselves, but the regular, impersonal notification of how you're doing. Most of the time I think I'm doing pretty well in my new practice area, but it's nice to hear it.
I made some time for irresponsibility. On Thursday night the first boy I ever kissed (and married, I believe we were 6) came over to see my house and Landon for the first time. He moved to NYC shortly before I moved back to Austin from Chicago so we just missed each other this past summer. Landon was his usual charming self and once he was in bed we got out two bottles of red wine, sat out on the back porch, and nearly drained them both (there was also some semi-homemade pizza involved: Pillsbury crust, pesto, fresh mozzarella slices, and tomato - very tasty!). It was wonderful to catch up. We became best friends in 1988 at age 5 and were inseparable until he moved to New York in 1995. We sometimes go months without talking and years without seeing each other, but there's a part of me that will always be best understood by him. Though, I wasn't feeling quite so warm and fuzzy about it Friday morning when I dragged myself to work half-hungover, still hating coffee, and knowing it was going to be a crazy day.
I have a semi-big project to do this weekend (as a reward for setting the bar so damn high), but I ignored it today in lieu of going to the Red Bud Isle dog park with JP, Landon, Tex, Rosie, and a friend of ours who has dubbed himself Landon's uncle (he's the one who babysat so we could go out for Valentine's Day, I also lived with him while I was a pregnant summer associate in 2007- he needs a blog name, I think I called him Steve in those old posts) and the dogs' godfather (he routinely steals them from our backyard to run them along Town Lake and today he had new retractable leashes for them- I'm pretty sure Rosie would leave us for him in a heartbeat). It was a beautiful day and we had a great time walking the trails and watching the dogs be sociable and swim in the lake. Landon had a big time picking small sticks off the ground and handing the to me- he had to keep running to catch up to us after he finished clearing the sticks off the path around him. When he runs, he crooks one arm and swings it while the other clutches his belly- it might be my favorite thing that he does.
We returned with wet, happy dogs and a giggly Landon.
I just want to freeze him at this age for a year or five. Why hasn't anyone figured out how to do that yet? And as long as we're freezing time, throw in an extra few hours for my project due Monday, I have a feeling I'm going to spend most of tomorrow choosing play over work, and I'd like to get some sleep before Monday morning.
Just wanted to say 2 things:
ReplyDeleteFirst, love your blog. I'm a married woman and a first year associate (although not as busy at my firm, unfortunately) :( No children, but it's great to see someone who's balancing everything and happy.
Second, I wanted to warn you against the retractable leashes! There are the warnings out there about losing fingers and burns from the line, etc., which is likely a greater concern with a toddler around. But just as importantly, they're bad for the dogs - they encourage and reward pulling at the leash. The more the dogs pull, the more line they get, so they pull all the time. When you try to walk them in the neighborhood and want them to behave, they'll pull all day long thinking they'll be rewarded for it.
Anyways, my two cents. Thanks again for writing!
Like Anonymous, I have two things to say. First, the picture of him in his mountain rescue shirt is so adorable. Only he's getting so big the word "adorable" doesn't seem to fit anymore. But he's not quite to "hot" yet. Maybe I'll lift a line from Trannyhead and say he's HAAAWWTT, baby.
ReplyDeleteSecond: retractable leashes = death trap. I was jogging with a friend in central park a few years ago when she got tangled in some jerk's retractable leash and broke her leg. Totally not kidding. The worst part is that she was training for the NY marathon and was totally taken out of commission. The lawsuit is still going on. I now have a rabid hatred of retractable leashes. I guess you could call it a "pet peeve."
Oh, I just crack myself up.
I really like your blog and I totally admire your work/life balance. It's really inspiring how healthy they are and how you can say no to people to retain your sanity and be assertive. It's awesome!
ReplyDeleteAbout that steve guy, you said in another post that he was "fantastic" What makes him so?
On the retractable leashes- I totally agree they're a safety hazard and bad for training the dogs not to pull on the leash, but for the dog park they're great because the dogs have more "give" than on their regular short leashes but they're still attached to us. Rosie especially is not so good about coming when called and we've already had one embarassing experience of Rosie taking off with the whole dog park pack following behind her- oops! But for our regular walks we use the short leasher and they're both very good about not pulling. I'm hoping in their mind it's just a "dog park thing."
ReplyDeleteWhat is Landon, 2 and a half? I LOVED that age. It was teh best. Seriously cute photo.
ReplyDeleteHey elee! He's 20 months, so almost 2 and I'm literally head over heels in love with this age- I'm so glad to hear you loved 2 1/2 too!
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