It seems so hard to believe that what seems like an exceptionally short period of time where we were welcoming Katie to the world was in fact twenty years ago today and I’m now officially bereft of any teenagers amongst my children.
Funny enough, the Carolina Hurricanes would win the Stanley Cup in both of those years!
Words cannot truly describe just how proud of her as she’s stretching her wings and getting ready to fly off to a destiny of her own choosing but I’m going to do my dead level best to try.
These last couple of years she’s been away at Campbell studying to become learned in the law certainly haven’t been easy as her many activities of shadowing a wonderful defence attorney in Harnett County in court and learning the intricacies of legal pleadings and procedures as well as making sure that the Camels in her care, whether they’re brand new ones joining the herd of Nobodies From Nowhere in Buies Creek to the ones in her purview as a minder of campus resident life have ensured that she’s been away for the vast majority of the summer.
And that’s not even talking about her occasional forays into Target and the campus Starbucks for a few extra…well…bucks!
Lest we forget, there is that small matter of her studies and she’s consistently rocking awesome grades on her way to what may well be an early completion to her undergraduate studies.
It’s exhausting just thinking of how many balls she’s got in the air that she’s managing to successfully keep in the air and making it look absurdly easy in the process.
I can only imagine how tiring it must be at ground zero!
On our very first day at Harvard, a very wise Professor quoted Aristotle: “The law is reason free from passion.” Well, no offense to Aristotle, but in my three years at Harvard I have come to find that passion is a key ingredient to the study and practice of law — and of life. It is with passion, courage of conviction, and strong sense of self that we take our next steps into the world, remembering that first impressions are not always correct. You must always have faith in people. And most importantly, you must always have faith in yourself.
Elle Woods – “Legally Blonde”
And yet on those few times this summer where we could hang out which was mainly me hoping to get a big hug and mostly listening to her many interesting stories of life as an intern and just seeing her legal mind blossoming into full bloom where it is crystal clear that she not only has such a passion for the law but an instinctive feel for the concept of justice that many lawyers admitted to the bar would do well to emulate.
The one theme that shines through the narrative of her stories is that she seems to have found a family in the Harnett County Courthouse that she really loves and that they really love her.
In fact, they love her so much that the bailiffs have no problem taking the mickey with her to see her shocked reaction (only to quietly let her know that they are a family in that courthouse and she’s a member of that family now!) and now one of the assistant DA’s is trying to poach her from her lead attorney.
She might well be successful at that one day but I’m thinking that even the awesome resources of the state might not be enough to tempt her from the fascinating work she’s engaged in with an attorney that seems to love his dog as much as she loves hers and who has likely gotten quite attached if not utterly dependent on her refusal to do anything less than the best that she is capable of for the needs of whomever she is serving.
And in that, I genuinely couldn’t be prouder of her and know with an absolute certainty that whatever direction her legal journey may well take her, she will be a shining example of the nobility the legal profession is capable of when they remember their duty to the Constitution and the law as well as the rights of the people and equal justice under the law.
Knowing that she is exactly where she needs to be and doing exactly what she should be doing is all the reassurance that she’s doing well that I’ll ever need and makes those times apart just a little bit more bearable.
Though I will confess that every moment we can spend together even if it’s mostly her telling of her latest adventures will be zealously treasured as the precious gift that it is!
Happy birthday and many, many happy returns of the day my beloved and cherished daughter!