This has been an incredibly long week.  I lost a friend to brain cancer (at very young 42), and a friend’s mom, as well.  We also had a lot of stress with our house – buying a new house is never easy, although this time it hasn’t been bad.  It’s just the house buying process that is so energy-consuming and difficult that it makes your mind spin. Mine is spinning like a top tonight for sure.

I’ve been working a lot after hours, doing legal work for clients.  I’ve enjoyed the work immensely and find it to be the most worthwhile and wonderful work I’ve ever done, bar none.  I’ve built hospitals that care for sick children; I’ve taken care of family pets; I’ve turned back on electricity for people (literally, with a hot stick and a fuse).  I’ve never done anything like this.  It’s amazing. 

This week has been a long and winding road.  Much like the rest of my life, it has been a means to an end.  The memorial service yesterday for my friend was an amazing experience.  The entire church (and a large church at that) was full of folks there to say goodbye.  The tributes were nice, the music was fitting and something he would have loved, and the crown was something he would never have asked for or expected.  He touched a lot of lives in his own short life; he will not be forgotten.  With similar interests, I thought he was a really cool guy.  He married a very wonderful girl the second time around, and they had a wonderful family until tragedy struck.  I cannot imagine what she is going through, but I will think of her every day for a long time, hoping that she can pull through this, using his memories to both keep him alive in her heart and to keep her own life moving along.  He would have wanted that, truly.

Today, I started packing for the move.  I did a few client documents.  I filed my very first case on my own last week – what an experience.  It will be fun, but it will be stressful.  Everything is when you do it for the first time.  Life, like this case, is a one-time chance.  Make the most of it.  My friend did while he was here, and the crowd at the service yesterday proved that to be so.

Tonight, as I listen to the storms above, I think about my friend, who was a drummer in a band, in addition to his day job.  It started storming yesterday afternoon.  I like to think that’s him, up there, playing in a new band.  Rock on, friend.  Rock on.