15-06.21.115 in Book Two: The Fifteenth Year of the Third Millennium of the Common Era

My oh my, this is a crazy busy day. Except not really. Because this is my Irish Twin cousin (yes, I know that’s weird) first wedding anniversary, it is also Father’s Day. It is also, if I’m not mistaken, the longest day of the year. It is also the day that marks only ONE more week until the Family Reunion.

I don’t know how family reunions are for other people, but this has potential to be amazing. Yes, yes… partially because my wife and I have never gone away for a week together before. And I know that surrounded by family might not be considered sufficient “going away for a week together” but… I’ll take what I can get. Because… Wife and I have been together for 10 years. In fact, our 10 Year Dating Anniversary is July 3rd (and will happen during the reunion.) More importantly, she and I never had a honeymoon because we got married VERY shortly before we had to move to Omaha and I start law school. Our 4 Year Married Anniversary is July 2nd (and will happen during the reunion.) So… going away together, even if surrounded by family, is good. It will pull her away from Evil Wal Mart and allow me to see (hopefully/maybe) what kind of wife she is away from that place. More so, it might help me discover how different the woman I live with is from the woman I married. I mean… I know I’ve gone through changes since 2011… law school, struggling with the bar exam, living in a sexless marriage for three years, and now the long stretch of semi-unemployment… I am different. The woman I married was intelligent, nerdy, communicative, interesting, even warm. But lately, I only see her when she leaves her Hell Wal Mart… and that woman is none of those things. (PS… another reason I am the way I am about my marriage… is because I still feel bad about our marital timeline… we literally got married one week, wrote the Thank Yous and took care of post wedding stuff the next week, packed everything we own the week after, moved to a different state the week after that, unpacked and settled into a new place the week after that, first week of August 2011 Wife starts work at the 72 Wal Mart, second week of August I’m starting Law School stuff. Seriously… I do feel bad that we never got the chance to really… be married, figure out the marriage, and then heap on moving/law school stress).

ANYWAY back on track. SO… I’m excited for Family Reunion for “Week away with wife.” I’m also excited for Family Reunion because… not that we’re snobby but… we’re specific about what Family Reunion Means. In this case… it is my Father’s Side. Which means…
My paternal Grandfather. His late brother’s children, and their children, and their children. My father and his kids (and their kids). My uncle and his children. All in all, it is 32 people. Not gigantic by any means, but large enough that we have all sorts of fun planned. Even though we all arrive rather staggered. Many will arrive on Sunday; but some can’t make it until Wednesday. While I understand, I’m a bit bummed that my Uncle and his family can’t make it out until Friday (leaving very few days of the reunion with them) but… they have a good excuse.

My family is sarcastic, loving, teasing, hilarious, and thoughtful. We’ve had tragedy… my Dad’s cousin Randy died when his daughters were only children… but family overcomes… Randy’s kids have become leaders in the family and even helped put the reunion together. We’ve already got things like “Theme Meals” planned and First Night Cards Against Humanity, and parasailing, and all sorts of other things. I am truly excited. Hopefully, it will also help me sleep. Because… I need activity during the day, I’m presuming. After all, most of my days lately have been… wake up whenever… make food maybe… check job postings that haven’t added anything since June 6th… do chores. Hopefully, fun and family and activity will help all of that. AND because it is late June… lots of my Pretrial staff are on vacation. So I’ll actually have HOURS this week. Though… the spread is bizarre. I work (pretty much) from 8 am to 7 pm on Monday. Then.... for one hour on Tuesday and one hour on Wednesday. Then I work from 8 am to 7 pm on Friday. Kind of crazy but whateves.

Right now… other than Vacation, of course, I’m thinking a lot about that damned bloody interview I had in Louisa County. Final Offers are expected to be tendered this Wednesday. Still, a large part of me hopes badly that I don’t receive an offer. NOT receiving an offer would be a thousand times more simple than getting an offer and trying to decide what to do. I mean… right now? I don’t have a law job, I don’t have connections in Iowa Law, and I’m not getting anywhere in that regard. But what I do have is… a solid place to live, a household income of over 25k, health insurance, and (at least) a household sense of job security. If I’m offered the job in Louisa.... yeah, it is a law job and yeah, it connects me to the world of County Attorneys.... but it is a part time job for 25k, my wife wouldn’t be able to work (because the city is dead waiting to be buried), a shitty apartment (if at all), no health insurance (which is huge when you have two people on Rx medications), and the sense that the job would be gone in a year if the budget wasn’t renewed. I mean… logically, it should be an “aw hell no” to the job but… considering the desperate lack of opportunities or interviews… it is still a very hard decision… if I have to make it.