Employment

This entire process of unemployment and, ultimately, employment has been humbling, enlightening, educational, and stressful. I have a lot of respect and compassion for people who have been on the search for a job for longer than 2 and a half months, which is how long it took me. During this process I have learned not only a lot about myself, but also a lot about the type of person I want to become. My work ethic has been strengthened exponentially. I never realized how much I enjoy working until all of a sudden I wasn't.

I also never realized how hard it would be to convince someone that I am a worthy employee. At the time, I was convinced that the reason I wasn't getting the types of offers that I wanted was due to my lack of extensive experience, or my age. As it turns out, I simply was waiting on the right job to come my way. I feel compelled to tell the story of how I came about finding what I believe is the perfect job for me.

Since moving here, Austin and I have been itching to find a church home. We both come from church-going families and appreciate the importance, not only spiritually but also socially, of finding a good group of young marrieds with which we can associate. One Sunday we decided to visit a church in the area that we hope to purchase a house in. When we arrived at church that morning to attend the later service we were surprised to find the sanctuary already packed with people who were seemingly coming to the closing of a service. Confused, we decided to grab seats in the back anyway and figure out what was going on later. I realized that this was the special post-VBS service where all of the kids come and sing their songs, share what they learned, etc. to the church as a whole. After the dismissal we went to the welcome center to make sure that there was not going to be a later service. There wasn't. Instead of simply returning home, we were invited to attend the Sunday School session that was scheduled to start within the next few minutes. Reluctantly, I agreed. Upon attending the Sunday School session and meeting with the teacher, an attorney in the City, we were told of a service provided by the Oklahoma City Bar Association where they place legal assistant candidates with employers. This was what we were looking for. Within a day of submitting my resume I had a meeting with their Director of Legal Placement, and within a week had two interviews. Less than 24 hours after the interviews, I was afforded the opportunity of choosing between two fantastic job offers. I am aware that this process was a blessing. After two long months of stressing and becoming quite agitated at having to turn down job offers because they were not right, I have finally found a place where all of mine and Austin's needs will be met. I even will receive a small raise when comparing my old salary with my new one. We have been provided for over and over again from family and friends but this is the furst time I can remember in a while when we have so obviously been provided for through God. No other explanation even begins to justify it. And that is truly enlightening.

It is poignant that I start work tomorrow at my new job. On July 21, 2008, precisely two years ago from tomorrow, I started work at Balch & Bingham. Balch was the first and only interview I had upon graduating college. I kind of fell into work there and from there I naturally fell into work as a legal assistant. This is what I am called to do: to assist. And I think I am pretty good at it. I have always felt as if my personality lent itself to be more of a helper than an initiator, and this entire experience has made that feeling more concrete than ever. Some people are called to medicine, some are called to music, others are called to the ministry; I, however, am more convinced than ever that I am called to be a legal assistant. It is what I am good at; it has afforded me the opportunity to meet wonderful people; it has also allowed me to learn more than I ever thought was possible. Law comes naturally to me, just as surgery comes naturally to a surgeon, or playing the piano comes naturally to a musician. It's not the most glamorous; but it is fulfilling, and I enjoy it. I have had the fortune to, while at Balch, to perform a variety of tasks: everything from competing a 9th grade project on photosynthesis (it got an A, thank you very much) to organizing a database for a large class-action lawsuit of documents, info on each plaintiff, dates, etc.

I am confident that what I want to do with my life has already been made clear to me, and that is information that I do not take for granted. I realize that at my age and with my life experience that I am in the minority. It is my sincere wish that everyone I know come to this kind of acceptance and peace.

Fireworks!

On July 4th, it is tradition in my family to attend fireworks. Therefore, it was imperative that, even though we are here in Oklahoma, we attend fireworks. So tonight, Austin and I watched Chickasha, Oklahoma's fireworks celebration.

Fireworks in Oklahoma are vastly different than those in Alabama for one reason: the landscape. No mountains, hills, and Vulcan statues interfere with firework viewing. I never realized how much they get in the way. The sky is huge here, therefore the fireworks appear much larger. Watching fireworks in Alabama will never be the same, I'm afraid.

Viewing these fireworks also reminded of previous firework-watching experiences. I have a few fun memories from my different experiences with my family. Take for instance, the one year we watched fireworks in Demopolis, Alabama. There I encountered a boy obsessed with a certain type of firework. His favorite were the ones were a large firework would burst, and then a smaller, louder firework with no light trail would "sneak" up and go off unexpectedly. Whenever these would occur during that particular show, this boy would yell, "SNEAK ATTACK!" It was funny about the first 4 times. Then it got annoying.

This particular experience was not without fond memories, either. When the fireworks started this one kid started screaming at the top of his lungs; not in terror, but in shear excitement. I laughed. Hard. Because it was funny.

Which brings me to an impromptu list of Fireworks Etiquette:

1) When watching fireworks, it is advisable not to bring the car with the insanely bright headlights and proceed to, every five minutes, open the car door to root around for unknown objects therefore blinding innocent patrons with aforementioned bright headlights.

2) Dogs do not belong at a fireworks show. Neither do infants. That's just cruel. Toddlers are a little more difficult to judge. The cute 3-year-old who yells "Daddy, I want to touch the lights!" is cute for about a minute. Then it's not. Althought, there are some cool toddlers that could care less about the sound, nor the bright lights. I want a kid like that.

3) While the fireworks are going off, please do not launch your own. It's distracting and will never measure up. So don't even try.

4) Please do not applaud after the fireworks show. It's about as useful as applauding at the end of a movie. In other words: Don't waste your time.

5) Finally, while a fireworks show is going on it is not cool to drive your car without a muffler along the main drag and try to rev your engine. No one is paying any attention to you, I promise.

And I feel compelled to say to all fireworks display designers: A finale is mandatory. Ending a fireworks show without a finale is pretty much un-American.

This was fun.