Monday, March 17, 2014

The Divorce Papers (no, not mine!)

The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger
So this month my book club-From Left To Write-read a very interesting book called The Divorce Papers. It's told only through emails, letters, and files in a divorce case.  Very, very interesting technique.  I still felt like I got to know the characters a lot. This post was inspired by the novel The Divorce Papers by Susan Rieger. Young lawyer Sophie unwillingly takes her first divorce case with an entertaining and volatile client in this novel told mostly through letters and legal missives. Join From Left to Write on March 18 we discuss The Divorce Papers. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

Throughout the reading, I was thinking a lot about how this almost was my life....the law part, I mean!  I went to college to become a pediatrician, switched out of that quickly...uh, math was NOT my thing, and fell in love with poli sci and law.  Writing legal briefs...love!  Doing my 25 page research paper about a Supreme Court case, spending hours in the law library...love!  I knew that was what I needed to do.  However, getting closer to graduation and hearing my peers start planning for the LSAT, I realized I was getting cold feet. I wanted to be a mom. I didn't want to have a career that full, that busy, that time consuming.  So I decided not to go on to law school.  I'm not saying you can't be a great mom and a lawyer-I have plenty of friends that went that route, though interestingly enough, most of them stay at home now!
I now spend my full, busy life teaching elementary school. I love it-I still get to read a lot, help kids learn to love knowledge and research, and am very fulfilled!  Sometimes, though, I do miss the law field. When my brain is fried from common core, loud classrooms, or too much paperwork, I toy with the idea of being a paralegal. Legal research all the time, quiet libraries, writing reports?  Maybe one day...for now, I will stick to the classroom.
What career path were you thinking about before making a switch? Do you regret it?

1 comment:

Alicia said...

I actually wanted to become a lawyer too and was almost ready to go to law school when I got divorced in 1993 and became a single mom to a 7 year old boy and an 11 year old girl.

Nice post, sounds like you ended up doing something you love just as much!