OH, DANG, THE TIME CRUNCH

See what a lady I am! I used the word dang, when I could have used a term far more rowdy. Well, trust, me folks, I wanted to, but I took you all into consideration and restrained myself.

I haven't posted now for two days because I have been so busy! On last Thursday morning I was working on one large document due this upcoming Tuesday. Then I went to the post office and found that I had received a large envelope with a letter inside indicating that I needed to get an another important document in by the following day around Friday at noon.

I called the attorney and I was like, "Are you kidding?" Needless to say, he was not sympathetic. Then he got really peremptory with me and I was like, excuse me, you can act that way all you want, but I haven't done anything wrong here--you could have called me earlier in the week and I would have come to your office and picked it up.

Then I could have started working on this much sooner.

I was not going to tolerate being spoken to rudely. Tell me, guys, have you had this problem where lawyers are downright rude for no reason, or simply because they like to bully and dominate in conversations? I'm like, GIVE ME A BREAK. Do it to the next idiot who calls and puts up with it, but don't try it with me. Of course, I would have cried had someone spoken to me like that when my divorce started, but now I'm much tougher.

I was able to get this document in by Friday at the end of the day simply because I focused like hell (yeah, ok, I use these words) and I just had a strong sense of what needed to be said. However, I still have a document due this Tuesday and then I have a brief which is simply late and I'm going day by day hoping the clerk doesn't throw the suit out for abandonment.

Inbetween all this I fit in all the parenting I need to do--for example, I'm sitting right here at my son's soccer game typing this. Plus, I have a part time job to pay up on the rest of my bills. Still, when people ask me what I've been doing in terms of work since my divorce started, I tell them that I work on my divorce full time!

If I am to do what I have to do to defend myself in terms of my reputation, in terms of custody, in terms of the many lawyers standing there with their hands held out wanting me to pay their fees for the incompetent work they say they did, then I have to pretty much work six to eight hours a day doing it. My house is filled with folders, and filing cabinets, and textbooks on the law and court procedures.

Sometimes I daydream about a future point where I'll be able to get a real job, but it won't be any time soon! And that is how it sometimes goes with divorce cases. So much happens that is ridiculous that one problem leads to another problem, leads to another problem, and the case spreads out into all the areas of your life and so you end up in an endless maze of legal problems.

The good news is I have custody of my children, I have some financial means, and I have a house to live in, all the result of my hard work. On the other hand, it isn't much of a life. I could have chosen to be homeless and without my children. So, things could be worse. Still, what is going on with our legal system if it puts an average person like me in this kind of position? It's nuts!