law wife life

After three incredible years in law school, my husband is (right at this very moment) finishing his BAR EXAM today! 

I feel a very strange mixture of emotions and thoughts, not least of which is where did the time go!?

I am incredibly proud of all that he has done. It is the end of this particular journey we've been on, the end of an era.  

It feels so exciting and full of promise. I will still be a law wife in many ways, but it won't be the same.

We are now, finally, for sure, out of the college-y time of our marriage. 

We no longer enjoy all-nighters (or even just late nighters). We get excited about real-life things, like nice candles and amazing salads. We can't pick at our face anymore or eat whatever we want, our bodies are against us. Our metabolism is brought up in friendly conversation. Often. We think about owning a home all the day long. Everyone is having kids. Indulging means staying home and cuddling. I have regular panic attacks at work, looking at the files of school children born in 2009. A true delight would be to get a real massage. My back hurts. We have to look up bizarre internet slang. We don't understand youths. I complain almost every day about how lame kids TV shows are nowadays (because the 90's were awesome). I sit on my bum all day long at work, but when I get home I just need to relax. 

It has been such an honor to live with and grow up with my husband. I adore him. He is funny and sweet and so hard working. I feel so lucky to have been able to travel beside him in law school, letting him push me to make new friends and love a new place. He is the extrovert, the one who invigorates me and challenges me. I couldn't be more proud of him! I feel jittery as I write this, knowing he's sitting there, filling in multiple choice bubbles. His mind is such a wonderful thing. I am privileged to know it. 

I love our life and am thankful every day for the adventure. Tonight we will celebrate the enormous accomplishment of my husband's hard work, graduating law school and finishing the bar exam. It will be the beginning of a new life for him (after he spends a few days sleeping). Up ahead is a lot of mystery and more hard work and new learning and rich experience. I have no doubt in my mind that he's ready and able.

Congratulations Dustin, you magnificent man, you.

redhead

Saturday morning I rolled out of bed and threw on one of my comfiest sweaters to head downtown.
I was running late for book club, in fact I almost missed book club, which would have been a shame since I was the one to request the book this time around! (Legion by Brandon Sanderson, my favorite author).

Once a month we have book club downtown, in my once-favorite coffee shop, White Hart. It's still dear to me, but it closed its doors earlier this year and was rather miraculously reopened by a new owner. While it's still a lovely place, it has lost a lot of the charm that made it so magical before...I'm hoping in time they'll really utilize the space to return it to its former glory, but part of me knows those days are gone forever.
It's always a little sad to lose a place you love, but sometimes beautiful things are short-lived. Looking back, some of my favorite memories were in places that only last for a short while -- like my apartments in college, especially junior and senior years, which included my husband and I's first home together. It was a tiny little place that we only lived in for 5 months, but I'll cherish it always.
Maybe having a definitive beginning and end to a beloved place makes it all the more magical. It's not everlasting, but the memories are -- and the ache you feel in its place is just a reminder of its sweetness.

After book club, a friend and I flitted over to a vintage Christmas market happening downtown, perusing the handmade goods and wishing we could buy them all.

After some more coffee and some friendly chatter, I headed back home to get ready for the law wives Christmas Tea. Which is why I'm so dressed up here! Afternoon teas demand fanciness.

Dress (remixed): Modcloth, Necklace: Anthropologie, Coat: New York & Company

I suppose this dress has become my go-to for law school events!
I wore it this past April for Barristers, although I have to say I'm enjoying it much more as a wintry holiday kind of dress. The shimmer in the fabric is gorgeous, and it's that right kind of bright to fit right into the Christmas season.

The hair, of course, is also new!
I had been pondering a new 'do for some time, although exactly what I wanted took a while to figure out.
I knew I wanted to do something a little wild, but not anything I would most likely regret terribly for years (like a pixie cut -- I'm pretty sure I would never recover, despite my occasional musings that I want to pull an Emma Watson).
The good news is, I did it, and I love it.
It has inspired me to curl my hair again on a regular basis, and I love the way it looks in a ponytail. My hair is finally getting long enough to pull off something more interesting, and I'm really excited to have this style for a while!

the law wife

I remember when we first moved to Virginia two years ago for my husband to begin law school, and I was introduced to the concept of "The Law Wives". 

I was contacted shortly after we were settled into the little fort we called home by a woman identifying herself as my "mentor". She was an older law student who wanted to meet up with me and encourage me in this new experience.

I was overjoyed. 

I had my first friend!

Granted, it was a friendly assignment which isn't quite the same, but going downtown to that quirky coffee shop was exciting and nerve-wracking and she gave me some of the greatest advice:

God doesn't call one spouse without calling the other. 

Dress: Anthropologie, Belt: LOFT, Necklace: Francesca's

This statement struck me as very profound, and I instantaneously felt the shift in my heart and mind.
We're a team. I was committed, I was in it to win it, I was ready.
I am a law wife. 

Over the next few weeks and months, I fell in love with the ministry that was The Law Wives.
I mean, how often do you get the opportunity to be a part of a community that strengthens, nourishes, and encourages you while you all travel the same rocky roads of change and transition together?
How often do you walk into a room of strangers and hear, We've been waiting for you! and We're so glad you're here! and Here, have some baked goods!
Strangers that are so happy to have you there, and are so supportive of you and your marriage and this journey, that they are active and intentional, and plan monthly events. Like going apple picking in the Fall. Like marriage retreats. And oh, my favorite, having a fancy Christmas Tea each December.

I remember my friends making fun of me at first, because I always sounded so snooty.
"Oh, I'm going out with the Law Wives tonight."
It sounds strange, like some bizarre club, but it has been one of the biggest blessings (if not the biggest, for me) of being here for law school.

I realized after a while that the reason it sounded so strange was because it was special.

This was my outfit for Monday night's law school event, the first of the year!
The Dean's Reception is day 1 of orientation for all of the new 1L students, so we got to go as mentors and mingle and enjoy dressing up and preparing ourselves for our very last year.

So cheers to the Law Wives, past, present, and future.
And cheers to being stronger now than we ever were before, and to being on this adventure together.