A Different Tactic. Part 3. 5:00 p.m. in Book Four: Ichi-no-Tani 2017

A Quick Look Back

The above picture is Downtown Tiny Town. As I was eating lunch today, I realized something. Why would Tiny Town work better now than it did then? THERE ARE REASONS. First Wife Issues. Wife issues are good, they were good in Tiny Town. Wife in Des Moines has a therapist she likes and is helping her out. So I would never want to take her away from that. But at the same time, Wife hated her life a lot less in Tiny Town. She wasn’t willing to admit it, still wouldn’t be, but since she didn’t have to work for Wal Mart… and could have gone to Iowa Central Community College for anything she wanted… Wife would have been fine in Tiny Town (save for the social). Second Social Issues. When we moved to Tiny Town… it was coming from Omaha. We didn’t have much connection with friends IRL or On-Line at the time except for the few friends that still spoke with us from Law School. Now that I’ve joined 5150 in Des Moines… we could go to a different STATE and have a better social life than previously. Members of 5150 are everywhere… Texas, Washington, Illinois. Granted, most are in Central Iowa but… we all still hang out via PS4, Facebook, etcetera. Hell… with 5150, in Tiny Town, Wife may have gotten into video games in a big way again. Third Job Issues. Working for Primary Attorney was a nightmare because she was an 80 year old woman that didn’t know computers and had lost her mind. Trust me, I am in contact with her family still… woman is NOT together. Her replacement, however, is a younger guy with passion. He could have taught me. He could have helped me, one day, become a good attorney.

So… yeah. Tiny Town as it was wasn’t great. It was lonely, it was frustrating, it was shitty. But Tiny Town after this experience? New Magistrate in place, New County Attorney in place, New Friends to enjoy via Internet.... Wife would be happier because she’s never been this miserable ever including in Tiny Town… that is why I look to Tiny Town as a “would be better.” Obviously, that can’t and won’t happen. They eliminated my job and Wife would divorce me if I even suggested we move back there, lol. But that is the deal. I look to Tiny Town and see $60,000… Health Insurance… Vacation… Sick Time… Master of my Own Schedule… No Required Long Distance Travel… in other words… the exact things I brought up when I was considering whether to take the job I currently have. And that, I think, is where I kick myself here the most. When I was offered this job.... I didn’t respond immediately. Or quickly. I spoke with Dan, Dad, Brother, Wife, Other Attorneys… I spoke with everyone because I was SO uncertain about taking this. Chinese Firm? $30k? No Health Insurance? Multiple Office Obligations? I took this job for three reasons.
(1) An opportunity to learn new and different areas of law. If you are a prosecutor for 10 years; you can never do anything else.
(2) Promise of team work and teaching. My interview and offer those words were thrown about HARDCORE. Team work and teaching, team work and teaching. They kept saying that.
(3) It got us home. After Pappy’s death, knowing Dad was about to retire, not living near my friends or family for the last 5 years.... coming home was the big thing.

7 months in.... (1) I have learned new areas of law. I’ve learned that I suck at them and that there is a lot to them I don’t understand. Which leads to (2) There is no team work, there is very little teaching. There is “Associate, do!” “Associate, take the blame!”. And (3) We are home. Thank Christ. Except… with the exception of connecting with 5150… I still only see my family maybe once a month, if that. And if I wanted to do that in Tiny Town? I could have arranged to see them once a month and driven a round trip of 252 miles a month. Fuck, that’s less than I have to drive each week at this job.