Your voice is three steps higher when you're not in school

Back from Mendocino.

Despite the husband's cold, he rallied and we had a very relaxing, enjoyable trip. We stayed at the inn where we got married last year. It was odd to be there without having anything to plan or being surrounded by friends and family devoted to nothing other than our happiness. It was quite and peaceful. I read a novel - Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down which is about suicide but very uplifting - on a lounge chair located on a water tower observation deck. We soaked in the hot tub for as long as possible and drank champagne. We played monopoly in front of the fire. We went to a fancy restaurant and I ate --- DUCK! Which, I will never eat again. But, my vegetarianism has been ending at various stages for a number of years and I thought I would try it. It was the special. And, it came with, get ready: vanilla, maple mashed potatoes garnished with, get ready again: fried fingerling sweet potatoes!!! And snap peas and some fancy reduction sauce. The price was about 20% less than the city and the portions about double. Plus, the waitress paired it with the largest, tastiest glass of pinot I've encountered. For that, I am okay with not being able to choke down the bird.

On the way home we stopped in Bodega to meet up with the in-laws. They sent us home with 18 lbs of salmon they'd caught. We got to give mother -in - law her birthday present in person. She cried. We spent a small fortune on Andrea Bocelli tickets because she loves him so much that she subjects all of us to him after large meals and lots of wine. She also managed to signal to me (I've realized she does not communicate, but signals) in a matter of 2 hours the following: if we need to borrow money to help buy a house, they are more than willing; if we decide not to have children, she will get it and love us anyway; even if I adopt "3 kids from different countries," they will be her grandkids and she will love them completely.

All in all, I am feeling content and loved and happy. This is good as I turn 25 tomorrow and that seems old and law school has a special way of making me feel old, cynical, and out of touch. But, despite all that, the past year has shown me how to exceed my limits, no matter how much I bitch and moan along the way. I am a stronger person than I was way back in August and I am... proud of myself.