My last first day of school is tomorrow. I guess that’s not really true in actuality, because my first class isn’t until Tuesday morning, but if I had a Monday class, I’d be starting tomorrow. The past month has been one of the busiest months in memory—since the end of July, we’ve had my brother’s thrilling victories at the All-American Soap Box Derby, Sheila’s bar exam, my ACLU conference, the trip to Potomac and subsequent vacation to Atlantic City, Kennywood, packing, working, Phantom of the Opera, interviewing people to serve as the two other editors for The Gavel, introduction to law review, and two Indians games this upcoming week—and while it’s all been very exciting and generally quite enjoyable, the frenzied pace of the past month hasn’t exactly been very conducive to self-reflection. Hence, the lack of blog postings!

The fact that I only have one year left sorta sunk in… when I was walking through the law school early in the morning before work after some interviews. It reminded me of a similar instance in the summer between my first and second year. As has been told many times on this blog, my first year of law school was extremely rough. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go back and my self-confidence had been shattered. I was walking through the law school and I happened to look up at the flat-panel monitors in the atrium. I noticed that my name was on there to communicate the fact that I had been awarded a Public Interest Fellowship! When I saw that, it reminded me that despite my struggles, I still had much to contribute and that I was doing things that people thought were worthwhile and celebratory, and it helped me remember that I was in the right place even though everything hadn’t turned out like I had hoped during my first year. Of course, the rest is history—like Shaq in the second half of every season, I came back stronger and more focused. My second year was a blast and it was topped off with an offer to join one of the law reviews!

This year appears to be much different for me in a number of ways. Whether or not these differences will be good or bad is something that only God knows at this point. I only have classes two days a week, but I have 6 hours of class on those days—two blocks of 3 hours each. (After this, watching the LotR movies will be no big deal!) I will still be working part-time, so it’s not like I am going to have tons of free time to do fun stuff like I used to during the school year. For the first time in 20 years (seriously!), Sheila will not be attending school in the fall, so I’ll have to learn how to find the right balance between spending enough time with her and making sure I study enough too. I am also going to have a ton of extracurricular work, and that’s not taking into account the political campaigning that I hope to do this fall as well.

Fortunately, there is much to be excited about this fall! Of course, football season starts up soon—I actually have a fantasy football draft tonight—which is always the highlight of my year! The new Harry Potter and Narnia movies are coming out as well. We will also be moving into our new place, which is going to be great for us in many ways—less traffic, closer to church, easier for Sheila to drive, closer to everyone on both sides of my family, more room, we can get a dog, etc—plus, two of our neighbors have Browns flags on their front porches!

We’ll see how it all goes! I am excited for the start of school, but the feeling is a bit bittersweet knowing that the beginning of my last year of organized education is at hand. I have enjoyed the working world these past two summers—I have been very blessed to have jobs that allow me to pursue my interests and passions, and I have faith that God will provide me with similar jobs in the future—but I truly enjoy the back-and-forth dialogues that occur in law classrooms and the learning that goes on in my classes. Learning the law has especially been very powerful for Sheila and me because it allows us to obtain skills and knowledge that can change people’s lives for the better, and walking out of class knowing something that I didn’t know when I walked in is a very satisfying feeling! What I do know for sure, though, is that I have been very blessed during the past two years of law school. As I look back, I see how God was involved in my life and guiding me along every day, even when things were very hard and I would go to bed at night wondering how I’d get the strength to wake up in the morning. Although difficult, the roller-coaster ride of my law school experience has made me a much smarter individual with a deep faith and the conviction to believe that no matter how hard circumstances may be at any given time, God always protects those who believe in Him and place their trust in Him and works everything out for good in the end. I am confident that my third year will be no different!