Weekend Update and Random Thoughts

Flutie hasn’t batted an eyelash yet at thunder but he is no fan of fireworks. On the 4th of July, even though street fireworks are illegal in Massachusetts, our neighborhood exploded with pops and bangs and fire-balls in the sky. Our pup was not amused. We tried to walk up to a park atop a large hill to view the huge Boston fireworks show, but Flutie simply couldn’t handle being outside with all the racket, so I walked him home and watched the fireworks on T.V. with the rest of America. Our big plasma HDTV made it look pretty decent. Poor little puggle was so scared that he whizzed on his bed in submissive fear. Luckily, this is only a once-a-year thing. I’d rather him be afraid of fireworks than thunder, since we get a lot of that around here.

Dog trauma aside, it was a quiet but nice holiday. I whipped up some cheddar-dill biscuits, a peach-raspberry cobbler and baked beans, along with a pitcher of mojitos, while Dan and his best friend, Eli, fired up their (joint-custody) Weber smoker and slow-smoked some crazy-delicious Memphis-style ribs. They were a-ma-zing. A few other people came over and the weather was decent enough to be outside on the patio most of the evening. Very mellow.

For the last two years on the Fourth either Dan or I were studying for the bar exam which put a serious damper on the fun. I am so glad that those dark days are behind us and that neither of us are taking the bar this summer. The last few weeks I have been thinking of the new law school grads studying for the bar and being so, so happy and thankful that it isn’t me. I am sending all the good vibes I can muster to those sad souls and wish I could tell them all that if I can pass, they can definitely pass.

On Saturday evening, we had to drive down to the Cape and back for a family friend’s engagement party. It was seriously no fun having to drive all the way there and back in the same night, but we couldn’t leave Flutie alone any longer, even after hiring a special weekend dog-walker for while we were gone – plus we had Week 5 of his obedience class early the next morning. The dog majorly cramps our style, but we love him so dang much. I still, often, wonder what the heck we’ve done to ourselves getting this dog, but its too late now and we’d never get rid of him. He’s here to stay and we’re adapting, even though we whine about missing our freedom. The weekend after next he is going to have his first “sleep over” at Dan’s parents’ house, while we take a three day weekend in Vermont. It will be our first time really away from Flutie ever and I am unreasonably excited to sleep in and leave to do whatever for longer than four hours at a time. I am praying that Flutie behaves at my in-laws’ so that they’re happy to have him back and we can do more things away from him with willing dog-sitters.

This week its just back to work, work, work. I don’t talk about work on the blog, but needless to say it’s another very consuming part of my life. The economy is not great for my particular line of work right now so that’s caused some hiccups in my first year of legal practice. I simply show up every day with a smile on my face, willing to work hard and keep moving forward – its all I can do, really. I am grateful and lucky to have a job and must remind myself that any time I feel frustrated and tempted to complain.

That’s really been my life motto lately, not just in terms of my job: when things feel difficult or sad, to count my blesssings before I start to complain. My life is far from perfect and there a lot of things I need to work on and would like to change, but, truly, I live such a ridiculously blessed and charmed life, who am I to ever play the sad violin and feel sorry for myself? In those moments, I would do well to take stock of all that I have and should feel ashamed of myself of such ingratitude. My only hope is that one day I might come close to being worthy of all that I have and give back even a fraction of what I have been given.