My Ode to Law School

Wow it has really been a crazy 3 years. I still can hardly believe it's over. Let's back up a bit though ..... I have wanted to go to law school since before the third grade. Ever since I made up my little 8-year-old mind so long ago, I honestly don't think I ever doubted or wavered with what I wanted to do. I knew I had to find a smart, driven, and extremely tolerant guy to support me through this dream of mine and luckily I found this one:

We got married right before moving to Maryland where I took the LSAT and applied to school, so he's been with me through all of it. And by "it" I mean a completely intense, exhausting, fantastic, exhilerating, frustrating, fanatical, and extremely challenging 3 yrs. But there's next to nothing I would change about it. I was stretched to my absolute limit, but as a result I have learned and gained so much. I feel amazing! However, I don't think I could have done it without the constant support of my incredible Joe, my wonderful family and friends, and a lot of answered prayers. I'm a lucky girl.

So last Thursday night, the day before graduation, I was invited to an awards reception at the law school. I had a pretty good idea of the award I thought I'd be receiving. I have been #1 in my class throughout my 3 law school years and although I hadn't received my official rank following this last semester, my grades basically couldn't have been better so I went to the receiption feeling confident. :) Here I am with my good study-buddy waiting for the awards to begin!

That night there were close to a dozen awards being given out relating to leadership and scholarship. Finally we got to the point where the #2 and #1 students would be announced. I listened as the Dean announced the name of the #2 student and as I heard her say "Lindsey Dastrup" my underlying fear became a reality. In shock, I walked up the stairs to the podium with a my jaw clenched and head down and then pasted the biggest smile I could come up with across my face just in time to greet the Dean and turn around to face the audience. I was later told I hid any disappointment or dismay very well, but when I look at this picture I can see it loud and clear. I didn't even think to look at my family. As I walked down the stairs I remember thinking "well this is going to be embarrassing as my mom already took the liberty of posting that I was #1 on her blog." My next thought as I sat back down was: "well who the heck IS #1??"

What happened next is .... the Dean of Student Affairs approached the podium and she and the Dean had a little pow-wow. A couple minutes later the Dean announced that there had been a mistake and that "Lindsey Dastrup is actually #1 in the class." All I could think was: relief, relief, relief, relief!!! Yes ... I know deep down that being #1 vs. #2 makes absolutely NO difference for who I am and for what is important. But I also have had this goal for a long time and it would have been a bit of a blow. So I didn't get my "moment" (smiling from head to toe, finally knowing that this crazy goal I've had has actually happened) captured on camera since I was back in my seat. But I did go up again later as they announced and took pictures of the top 5 people and top 10% (around 24 people ... there were 247 people in my graduating class).
And my happiness was captured as I got to greet Joey. It sure has been a long road and he has put up with so much!

We all continued to be a little surprised by what had just transpired (here's Joe reenacting his reaction). My Dad said he was praying hard that I would hold it together and Joe was just hoping I'd be okay with the outcome. We laughed about it for the rest of the night and I really do think it makes a good story. :)

Here's Dean Cobb (the Dean who corrected things) explaining to us how the mistake was made (something about an earlier draft where she accidentally typed the #1 name first instead of second). I told her not to worry about it ... no major harm done.

Here I am with the pleased parents (who make it clear that they really don't care whether I graduate with an award or not). It was so funny because my dad had been bugging me the last couple of days to make sure I wouldn't fall apart if it turned out I was #2 (even though I wasn't even close ....). He teased me that he had to pay the Dean money to get her to do that to me.

And the happy in-laws. It was so good to have them there!

Afterward we had a little reception with drinks and hors d'oeuvres and I got to chat with a few of my favorite professors.

And we enjoyed some time in the lovely law school courtyard.

Then we had to hurry home and iron our dresses and robes for graduation the next day (I got up at 5:30 and we left the house at 6:40!). The celebrations were officially underway.