Today was an absolutely amazing day. Today was the day we were sworn in by the Arkansas Supreme Court Chief Justice Hannah. It was simply amazing to be part of the group that has come so far from such humble beginnings.

I was one of about 152 people who passed the Arkansas Bar Exam in July.  As I have stated before, my journey to this point was not easy. It was fraught with challenges, roadblocks, Nd heartache. Thankfully, I was able to make it through the whole ceremony today without crying or even getting very weepy. I did get a few tears in my eyes when the Judge said that this was among journey. I felt like he was talking only to me, but I know that he was talking to many others in our group. We had a sight-impaired student in our class. We had veterans who had seen war. We had parents who had lost children. We had women who had lost their spouses.  We had marriages and relationships that had not survived the rigors of law school. We were all one in this fight. The fight for our dreams.

Today there were a few who were annoying, frankly, bragging about how they had already been in every court in their district. This was no different than law school, where there were a few who wanted to brag about how connected their parents were or how they got a big time clerkship every semester. It reminded me of Girls’ State circa 1988 where an incredibly well connected girl just happened to be one of two girls chosen for Girls’ Nation, even thought she was, by far, one of the least popular people in the whole group. It was the same, but different.

As we raised our right hands, repeated the oath, walked to the front and received our licenses, a feeling of great euphoria washed over me. I did it. And I loved every single minute of it.