Day 117: Where I'd Be Right Now

Had I opted to go to Law School, I'd be in class right now! School started this week. Not sure how I'm feeling about it. On one hand I'm bummed that another year will pass without working toward my law degree, but on the other hand I am relieved!

Relieved that I don't have the financial commitment and relieved I don't have the brain commitment.

I can't imagine juggling the class load with my boys still needing to be parented. I've talked about this before. For all you naysayers who don't believe teenagers need parenting, I'd like to see how screwed up your kids are... or you don't have children so I really don't give a damn what your opinion is on this parenting issue.

I opted to not pursue law school because it would cost me close to 100k and I just can't justify that expense with three sons to put through college. Brian and I made a pact a long time ago that if possible we want the boys to graduate school debt free. It's an ambitious goal considering the cost of college. We already have one in a private university and who knows what the other two will opt for.

I've had my run with school. I went to both undergraduate and graduate school and hold a Master's Degree. I paid for that degree for many years after graduating and it ain't fun, so if possible the boys will not have to carry this debt. That doesn't mean they don't have to pull their weight. Translation: they either are collegiate athletes or collegiate workers!

Anyway back to the law school issue... given the way our business has been the past few years (meaning very down!) and the uncertainty of the economy, I just couldn't make the plunge and feel like a responsible adult doing it ...

So while a part of me is very disappointed, the other part of me is happy that I can continue being the Mom I want to be to my boys while not running our family into debt. It means also that I can continue working in politics and continue to make change to better the lives of women. Not a bad gig I say.

Maybe I'll win the lottery when the boys are all in college and then I can enroll in law school... who knows, but for today, I'm content not laboring over law books!

Day 46: More Career Moves

As a follow up to yesterday's post about professions and career choices I wanted to share what my next steps professionally will not include. I will not be attending Law School in September. Everybody take a sigh of relief, just like I did when I didn't have to send the tuition check this week!

So for those of you who didn't know, I applied to Law School some months back. I started the application process back in October of 2009. Studying for the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test), compiling school transcripts some 25 years old, and collecting letters of recommendation. Wow, do you feel old when you start applying to learning institutions for yourself (not your kids) when you have been out of the game for so many years!

In addition to always wanting to study law, I applied with my winggal Rebecca Simon. Rebecca had already completed a year of law school, but had to suspended her studies to attend to family obligations. Unfortunately she lost those credits and has to retake the entire first year. But together we thought, we could do this -- after you run a political campaign in Los Angeles you are fearless and nothing seems too daunting of a task. So we applied together. Of course we are in different points in our lives.

While I did not get accepted to my first choice school, I was accepted at other local institutions. The problem is none of them offered the schedule I need nor the opportunity to go with Rebecca. In addition, there was the tuition thing! With three children to put through college over the next 10 years, I really needed to soul search about this expenditure.

Were there other ways that I could continue being an advocate for children and the causes near and dear to me without the law degree? Yes of course. Can I continue to lobby elected officials to see change in the arenas I care about without a law degree? Yes of course. So could I really justify the expense of law school versus my children's education? The answer is no, I can't.

Brian and I made a goal with each other that if at all possible we wanted to fund all three of our boys college educations so that they could graduate with little or no debt. I feel an obligation to this goal we set many moons ago when we were building our family.

Even with Brandon's baseball scholarship, sending him to a private high ranking university out of State is an enormous expense for our family. And I know we've got two more who will be shuffling off in 3 years. So the combination of not getting into the perfect school for my agenda, coupled with the expense, I have decided to place on hold my law school education. I say hold because I'm not saying I will never go, I'm just sayin' I'm not starting this year.

At first I was very disappointed, then I realized I was relieved. Relived about the money part, but also about the brain energy part. At 49, with a full house and active life, I was nervous about how my brain cells would absorb so much new material. While I know I could have done the work, the question was, at what cost? What cost to my family, my checkbook, and my health.

So now that this decision has been made, I can pursue other opportunities that have been presented which I had put on hold pending the law school decision. First up is to continue working on my nerve pain, continue running to accomplish my goal of completing a marathon next year, and continue building my Birthday Blog.

What is great about this story is that I went for it. Many of us hit a certain age and believe that we are "too old" to do fill in the blank... and the truth is you are not. Yes, it's more challenging pursuing difficult things the older we get and the more complicated our lives become, but who doesn't love a damn good challenge. I know I do and I am proud that I went through the process.

And I gotta say, I am relieved that I won't be pouring over textbooks, but rather pouring more wine for the next 4 years!