Helping others in need

It is not every day that I get to actually reach out and help clients on a personal basis.  While I am an attorney for a legal services agency, I also do a great deal of administrative work, which leads to me being in the office often.  However, I do try my best to go out into the community with local clinics to give brief legal advice and help those who need it the most.  
I was fortunate enough to do this Tuesday.  I went to a local courthouse to take applications for legal assistance.  When doing this, I'm often able to ask questions and give brief answers to questions that can solve their problems easily.  Oftentimes, people just want to tell their story.  They are going through a great deal of stress obviously with a legal situation, and they need to vent.  We attorneys often double as therapists.  My problem is when I listen to an applicant's story I get so wrapped into it that I want to take the case on as my own and help the person.  Unfortunately, my time does not always allow for it.  
When I started my job, there weren't a lot of these clinics set up in our counties, but I have worked very hard to create them so that we can go to the community and not have them come to us.  Local libraries, courthouses, community centers are perfect places.  I wish my time allowed for more, but for the times when I can go out there and help, it reminds me exactly of why I chose to practice law.  And it makes me thankful for the blessings I do have in my life and how fortunate I am but also makes me even that much more passionate about providing equal access to justice for those who need it most.  
So I am thankful that I am able to help.  I love what I do, and I'm lucky to do my job.  
On a side note, I have started a blog for my agency so check it out!  (Personal plug!)

For those small moments

Sometimes you get so focused on the big things, the big stressors in life that you miss those little moments.  Those little moments in your day that just make you smile.  That's what I'm thankful for today.
I'm thankful for the random text from T that tells me that I'm his best buddy in the whole wide world.
I'm thankful when I watch T and Aubrey playing on the floor.
I'm thankful for the smile I get when we share an inside joke.
I'm thankful for the huge smile I get when Aubrey sees me at the door if T drives separately and I work from home.  She gets so excited.  I just love it.  And as soon as he opens the door, she has to immediately jump into my arms.  
Whenever Aubrey walks to and from somewhere she sings the song they sing in daycare to the tune of frere shaka that goes "We are walking, we are walking, to the car, to the car..." (Or insert your destination here.)  Well, she comes up to me the other day going "We are walking, we are walking, to the Mommy, to the Mommy!" and gave me a huge hug.  It warmed my heart.
We split up going to the church this weekend, and T went Saturday night.  So I had to start putting Aubrey to bed, giving her a bath and drawing things out as long as humanly possible for T to come home.  Just as we were starting our first book, the garage door opened, and she jumped off the rocking chair to wait at the gate at the staircase flipping out with excitement.  It was hilarious.  Again, heart warmed.  
Every kiss.  Every smile.  Every laugh.  I stop and take a mental picture and thank God for my blessings.

Thankful to have become an aunt

Yesterday, my oldest nephew turned 17-years-old.  So technically yesterday should have been my thankful post for him, and I think that probably makes me a bad aunt.  Better late than never, eh?  
Okay, so here's the thing.  There is no way this kid should be 17.  It isn't possible.  I've practically grown up with C since he was born when I was just the wee young age of 15.  My brother was in college at the time so both he and C's mom worked full-time as well as went to school full-time.  They both graduated with honors and really busted their buts to do so, but on weekends, my family would help out by taking C for the weekend.  I loved it.  I loved playing with that kid.  We would have him Friday night through Sunday so he was pretty close with everyone in my family.  Thus why I have a ton of pictures of him and not as many of my other nieces and nephew.  I even put a picture of him up in my locker I was that proud.  He was such a cutie, too.  If I was not conscious of the fact that he's in high school and whether he is aware of this blog or not - I will defer to his privacy and not post any embarrassing pictures.  But he's grown up to be quite the guy.  He's inherited the Byers sense of humor (dark, sarcastic, often mistaken for not really being humor but being serious), he's like 6 ft tall which is unusual for my family, and he's an avid coffee drinker.  He's on his way to being an Eagle Scout and on his way to hopefully going to IU in two years.
I have hard time believing the kid has his driver's license.  I still remember driving him around in my Dodge Shadow and him going "whoa!" when I took a turn or "we're driving fast today, Aunt Nain?"
He'd always be my cheer up after a rough break-up.  (C hugs were the best), and I never tired of watching Blue's Clues with him no matter how many times we saw the same episode.  I used to take him out to the movies and on little dates but...yeah, that doesn't happen anymore.  He's got his own serious girlfriend to take on dates.  But I still take solace in the fact that I am the cool aunt, though he has stopped calling me "Aunt Nain."  
If I'm having a hard time picturing him being 17, I can only imagine how his parents feel.  Hell, I'm having a hard time with Aubrey turning 2 soon.  And come May 2015 when we watch him graduate high school?  That is going to be just plain surreal.  
So today (and every day) I am thankful for the very first nephew I had, the one who made me an aunt.  And a very proud aunt at that.  I love him more than he'll know, and it's been just so much fun watching him turn into the almost man he is today.  Happy birthday to you, C!

Fall brew

My favorite seasonal beer has arrived - Pumpkin Ale, specifically BJ's Brewhouse Pumpkin Ale.

I do love me some fall beer, and with the season coming to a close, I must take advantage of it as much as I can.  We did just that last weekend where I got to take a drink from this sweet nectar of the Gods.  No wait, that's Guinness.  But this stuff is very good.  So it's Sunday, and I'm not really big on words but today I am thankful for the fall brews.  Let us not forget.....

I am thankful for my fall brews.  They only come once a year, and pair that with a chilly day and football on the television, and you have one happy Nain.  So cheers to the weekend and delicious brews!

Thankful for good in the world

Yesterday, I was so happy to see Facebook posts detailing the story of 5-year-old Miles, a San Francisco boy, who is living with leukemia.  His "Make a Wish" is to be Batman for the day, and the city went all out.  He was able to save the city from The Penguin and The Riddler, rescuing a damsel in distress and the San Francisco Giant's mascot from the grips of evil.  It was so incredible to scroll through the pictures of the day, to see how many people turned out to make this kid's dream come true.  The smile on his face was just priceless.  Honestly, after the day I had Friday, this story put all of that in perspective.  
So today I am thankful for the good that is still out there even though so many times we can't see it.  Look at how many people went to extreme lengths to make this kid's wish come true.  Looking through the pictures, you have to smile because you can just tell how happy he is.  He's five.  And he has leukemia.  The poor kid has gone through so much worse than any of us will ever know, and he is living his dream because so many people came together to make it happen.  
The funniest thing, hands down, for me was the charges that were officially filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office against the two villains.  Say what you will about politics, but even the President sent out a message via Twitter thanking Miles for saving Gotham City.  It was just too cute.  
So if you feel like the world is just a dark place and no good is out there, click on that link up there.  Because there are good people out there, and there is good in the world.  I do not know what Miles' diagnosis is, and I pray to God that it will be good.  But he will treasure this memory.  He deserves this memory.  And it's just so amazing how it came to fruition.  

Two years

Two years ago, a wonderful man left this earth to join the love of his life in heaven.  Two years ago, my family lost the patriarch of our family, my Grandpa George.  I cannot believe it has been two years.  It hardly seems possible.  It seems just yesterday he was still here.  Hell, sometimes I find myself wanting to say "oh, what should we get Grandpa for Christmas? or something along those lines.)  Is he really gone?
The other day, T and I were talking about his grandparents, three of them still on this earth, and he does not get to see them too often as they live in Massachusetts.  And none of them are in great health.  T has been my support through watching my Grandpa deteriorate and pass away, and it makes my heart immensely sad that I know T will someday have to go through that, too.  His Nana visited us last June, and she just went home after meeting her 2nd great-grandchild up in Michigan.  That could have been the last time she would see her since she will no longer be able to fly out, it's just too hard on her physically and mentally.  We want to go out to Boston next summer because I feel very strongly that his other set of grandparents should meet their great-grandchild at least once.  But something else came to my mind.  T's going to have to go through that feeling.  That feeling of this is it - this is the last hug, this is the last time I'll see them.  We don't have the money to go out there more than that, and they are not in good health.  And it brought me back to that day on July 30th at my family's reunion where I hugged my Grandpa one last time.  And I knew it would be the last time because of his health.  I knew that was the last time I would say I love you to him, the last time he would hug me back, the last time.  All of those feelings just washed back.
It is supposed to get easier, I thought, but I'm learning it doesn't.  I still tear up thinking about my aunt we lost 20 years ago.  It never gets easier.  I miss him terribly.  I wish I could go back to that day and could hug him just a little longer.  I wish he could have met my daughter.
We have a picture of my Grandpa up in our den, and sometimes Aubrey escapes us and runs into there, and whenever she sees that picture she points and says "Bye-bye!"  Every. time.  Forever.  I don't understand it.  Did she meet him in heaven?  Does she know him somehow?  Maybe it's just some kind of coincidence? It all seems impossible, but maybe I need to tell myself this to believe it. 
We went to church the other day where there was a 50th wedding anniversary blessing.  Father said to the couple that when they were engaged, that was the happiest day of their lives.  When they were married, that was the happiest they would ever be.  When they welcomed children into the world, they only became happier.  He said on that night, as he blessed their marriage, that would be the happiest day of their lives.  And when they join each other in heaven, that would be the happiest moment of their lives.  He said 50 years?  That's nothing.  You have eternity in paradise to be together.  This tears me up.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that when my Grandpa passed away, at that moment, as my uncle said he took his last breath and turned his head, looking directly in the corner of the room, that my Grandma was there saying "Welcome home, George" welcoming him back with so much happiness.  They are together again, and that was the happiest moment of his life.  He was reunited with his Peggy.  
I'm tearing up writing this so I'll end.  I think it goes without saying but today I am thankful for my Grandpa.  Yes, I can't bring myself to come to his grave site to visit him, but I know he knows I think of him often and love him more than he'll know.  I miss him every day.  God bless you, Grandpa.

Thankful for Bigfoot

I'm dedicating this post to T.  He is, and as an extension I suppose I am, thankful for Bigfoot. Let me explain, T's favorite show on television right now is Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet.  And they had a marathon on Sunday and season premiere Sunday night.  All weekend, T asked "guess what's on Sunday?"  "guess what's on tomorrow?"  It was like Christmas morning for him.  I haven't seen him this gleeful since Beavis and Butthead came back on briefly on MTV. So we watched Bigfoot...but fell asleep so we watched it again Tuesday night.  For those of you who have not seen the show...seriously, you're missing out.  Four grown adults going out into the woods "squatchin' which means they are looking for Bigfoot.  They dedicate their life to this.  I'm not kidding.  One of them?  Is an attorney.  He passed the freaking bar in California, which is impossible, and he gave it all up to live in his car and hunt Sasquatches.  
The thing is that man probably makes like triple what I make.  I always joke that I'm going to quit my job to move to Oregon and hunt squatches.  (Can I crash at your house, Sarah?)  
One of them is named Bobo, and the dude is something out of a Cheech and Chong movie.  "Duuude I just heard a squatch..."  I mean the guy was a roadie with Phish if that tells you anything.  The whole thing cracks me up but T loves it.
Something to think about - is it any coincidence that a lot of the states (Washington, Colorado...) where they do their hunts have recently legalized marijuana?  I'm just saying....
They go do "town hall" meetings where the local yokels come to tell their story.  They ask people to raise their hand if you've seen Bigfoot, and they all raise their hand.  I mean it's hilarious.  
So if they are hunting more than one - is the plural Bigfeet?
Can you imagine that there are so many questions and things you can think about over Bigfoot?  And the show is called "Finding Bigfoot."  It's been on for like 3 seasons and they still haven't found him.  What happens if they do?  Will they just stop and be all like "peace, we're done?"  
I don't know...you mention Sasquatch and this immediately comes to mind: But it makes T happy like a little child, and for that....I am thankful.