Gifts for those Grieving

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

In June I had to go to Jonesboro for my step-grandfathers funeral.  He was married to my father's mother.  I did not know him very well since he lived in Tucson, Arizona and because when I was a little girl he had a stroke and could not remember or comprehend things after that.  My grandma stayed with him and took care of him for over 16 years.  I think she is such a noble women who stood by him and took care of him even though he did not always know who she was.   This is true love.  The strokes continued and over time he also lost the ability to walk and had to be continually watched by either grandma or a nurse.  His passing was not a surprise since he had been struggling in his last few months.  I am glad he is no longer in pain.  The problem with death is that it leaves people behind.  I am Mormon and I do believe in life after death, but that does not mean that you do not miss them or struggle with their loss.  I knew it would be very hard on my grandma, she had dedicated her life and her whole daily routine around taking care of him for so long.  The funeral was interesting.  It had children fighting and an illegitimate child show up.  The Jonesboro LDS Ward took care of our family and with a weeks notice created a service and dinner for our family, even though they only know my parents.  I had to go to the funeral alone since John was in Cleveland for work when it happened.  I made a gift for my grandma.  What do you give someone who has lost someone?  Flowers die and are hard to transport across the state.  In the end I bought things of comfort: a card, a fuzzy blanket, a bar of chocolate, and a comforting religious CD.  She called me a couple months later while moving in with my aunt in Utah to tell me that she had found my blanket again and how it had meant so much to her.  It really is the little things we do for each other that make a difference.

And I take the Arkansas Bar Exam

Well after studying for 10 weeks lets just say I was ready to get the thing over with.  So on July 25th  through  July 27th I packed up and John and I moved into the Peabody.  We decided that we didn't want to add the stress of making sure we got there on time so we opted to stay at the Peabody next door to the Statehouse Convention Center where they gave the test.  Kinda funny, I graduated in the same room I had to take my bar exam in.  Anyways, for a five star hotel the Peabody was a bit lacking.  First they charged for a fridge and microwave.  The rooms were not the largest, or the equipment the most up to date in the rooms.  But what I found most alarming was that they did not even have a pool.  Really???  So the point goes to show that money does not make the nicest room.  What we did like about the Peabody was the beautiful elevator/ view from the room of Little Rock on the river. 

I loved that they had the most adorable duck soaps in the bathroom.  If you do not know the Peabody is famous for its ducks that live in the fountain and put on a march twice a day for everyone to watch.

So each day of the exam I went and registered, waited an hour or more for them to start and go through directions and then had 3 hours of exam an hour lunch and then 3 more hours of exam.  The first day of the exam is essay you have to answer essay questions on your laptop.   During the first 30 minutes my computer had a glitch and would not work- I freaked.  The service lady tried to help me but could not figure it out.  Thankfully it was something I figured out how to work around and still get done.  The next day we did not use laptops but instead had to answer 200 multiple choice questions.  They were both very long days.  The law schools provided boxed lunches for us both days so that we could just eat something quick.  It was nice to sit down with a couple of professors who told us about their exam days and tried to relieve some of our fears.  After the exam I was so tired, I had lived on adrenaline for days.  We celebrated by getting food at 5 guys, ice cream at baskin robbins, and watching movies at the hotel room.
While I was taking the exam John took off of work for a mini vacation.  He got to stay in the room and relax.

Summer 2011

Well I cannot say it was an epic summer.  We did not take any trips, go on any vacations, or even spend much time outdoors.  I spent 10 weeks studying for the bar.  I took a bar prep class that entailed me going to classes, reading, and taking a million practice tests.  So I pretty much studied  8 to 12 hours a day, sounds fun huh.  John entertained himself by going to scout camp, playing lord of the rings online, and watching weird netflix shows.  I did get to go to four movies this summer: X-Men First Class, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Harry Potter.  I loved Transformers and Harry Potter.  I really like action movies and movies where things blow up.  Transformers was so patriotic.  John went on two business trips one to San Fransisco and another to Cleveland Ohio.  Since I was studying I did not get to go on either trip.  Before I knew it summer was almost over and it was time to take the Bar Exam