Everyone can use a lawyer in the family!

I feel impressed to say a few words about my oldest daughter, Trisha. Trisha's been out of the home mostly for many years now, but she's about to embark on something very exciting soon as she has applied to law schools and will soon be choosing one and off to her new adventure next fall.

But, first to go back in time. Trisha was always an amazing kid, but I didn't have anything to compare it with her being my first so didn't really realize it. Before my second daughter was born, Trisha knew her ABCs (and could sing them) and her address and phone number. She was *this.close* to being potty trained, but the demands of a 2nd child -- when Trisha was 16.5 months old -- set that back. She ended up achieving that milestone when she was 20 months old (and that was day, night, everything!). When Trisha was 8, we let her fly across country from the Bay Area -- alone -- to visit my sister in DC. She even had a change of planes. What on earth were we thinking? None of my other kids could have ever done that. The twins will be 10 in a few months and I still can't envision the day I would think they are ready to do that and that's with them having each other, too! That's just how advanced Trisha was in some things (though her learning to drive was a whole other story -- she'd get mad if I shared that here so I won't ....)

We moved around a little during some of the critical years, but Trisha seemed to weather it OK after all. We moved from the Bay Area a few weeks into her freshman year in high school after a sudden military base closure happened (the base had been on a closure list then removed and then suddenly put back on the list with a closure within months). Just before moving, Trisha and her sister were involved in a very tragic auto accident that they were both treated and released for relatively minor injuries the same day, but 3 other occupants (friends) of the car died. We were transferred to the Seattle area where Trisha went back to middle school 9th grade and then on to high school again the next year for 10th grade. After a few months of 10th grade, military retirement was upon us and I was offered a job at a start up back in the Bay Area so the kids settled back into schools there. So just a little background on the curveballs fielded during this time. Trisha also went on Teen Jeopardy her senior year of high school which was a lot of fun. Other parents were all stressed at how their kids would do and I was just having fun letting her experience it all. It was a little sad how hard some parents were on their kids and some of these kids were sent to the best schools, boarding schools, etc. Anyway, 3 girls ended up as finalists and Trisha came in 2nd overall, winning nearly $18K in cash. Not bad!
Trisha applied to 7 colleges in her senior year. She had dreams of becoming a sports agent and would have really liked to go to school on the east coast, but I couldn't see that happening financially, but she went ahead and applied to some east coast schools anyway and was accepted to all 7 colleges she applied to, but ultimately we said she had to stay out west and she ended up at UCLA. Not too long after and while the twins were infants, I went through a divorce. Pretty bad timing for my freshman off to college and all alone! I'm sure that had to have been hard for her and after 2 years at school, she was struggling and I couldn't help financially at that point and we felt it would be best for her to come home. So she did. For a year. Then felt she was ready to go back away to school, but decided to go to ASU. After a year there, her heart was really set on UCLA so she returned there, got her degree, then went on and got a master's degree, as well.

Trisha got married in 2007 and was now a working professional, but she had always really wanted to go to law school and decided she should go for it. She prepared for and took the LSAT and apparently was pretty unphased with the testing process itself (that's a big score right there not being tied up in knots!) and got a terrific score, but decided to retake it to see if she could increase it just a little to give her a more sure chance of getting into a top tier school. The result? She did it. She scored in the 98th percentile with a score of 171.

So now the waiting game begins to see where she is accepted. She's gotten several acceptances already and has some scholarship opportunities in the works. Her top school she's been accepted to so far is UC Berkeley and University of Michigan (I think they are both around #4 & #5). She has also been contacted for an interview with Harvard. So it's a very exciting time, one Trisha probably didn't think she'd be into a few years ago, but by this time next year she'll be deep into her studies and probably at a very cold place. Between Berkeley and Michigan, her choice is Michigan, but not because of the weather!!!! That would be a hard adjustment. But, it's only for 3 years.

So I'm very proud of Trisha for pursuing her dream and channeling the gifts she was given (she must have a photographic memory -- don't ever play Trivial Pursuit if you expect to win or debate her on sports stats and whatnot -- you will not win!). It will be very interesting to see what comes and will be a wonderful example to the twins.

And, hey, everyone can use a lawyer in the family, right?