What we do

A lot of people have been asking me lately what I'm going to do now that I passed the Bar, or, for those who already know, what it is exactly that I do. I'm sure everyone is interested in what Suzy and Tenny do too, so here's a brief synopsis of what we do.

I'm an attorney (or at least I will be once I'm officially sworn into the Bar next month). I work at a law firm in D.C. that we affectionately call Uncle Cleary. I worked at Cleary part-time for about a year, and I just started as an Associate about a month ago. As far as law firms go, it's a great place to work. I mostly do litigation (i.e., court stuff). Right now I'm doing a securities (stocks, Wall Street) case, an antitrust (economic competition, monopolization) case, and a pro bono asylum case. I write, I research, I interview, I think, and I travel. Every day is a new adventure, which is one of the reasons why I originally picked this profession. It's a good gig. It helps me pay off my student loans and feed my family--what's not to like?

Suzanne is a working mom--she works her hind parts off taking care of Tennyson and doing everything else necessary to run a home and family. She does the finances, she does the shopping, she does the cleaning, she takes care of leaking dishwashers, she cooks, she fights the insurance companies, and she does anything else that comes up. She does all this while taking care of Tennyson, which, I assure you, is also a full-time job.

If you ever find yourself needing some inexpensive entertainment, give Suzanne a call sometime in the middle of the day. It would be painful if it weren't so funny. I had a conversation with her yesterday that went something like this: "What time do you think you'll TENNYSON! DON'T COLOR ON THE CHAIRS. WE ONLY COLOR ON PAPER. Anyway, what time TENNYSON! WE DON'T PLAY IN THE GARBAGE. I can't even remember what we were, oh yeah, are you going to be late to...OH NO! TENNYSON! ARE YOU OK? COME HERE. YOU'RE OK. Tennyson just fell off the chair. He has been so crazy today. Anyway, when are you coming OUCH! DON'T PULL MOMMY'S HAIR. THAT HURTS MOMMY. NO, DON'T CRY, IT'S OK. MOMMY'S NOT MAD." Typical mid-day conversation with Suzy.

Suzanne also tries to keep Tennyson busy so he doesn't destroy everything, including himself. Which brings me to what Tennyson does. Tenny loves playing outside. He wakes up and starts saying "outside, outside, outside, outside." He loves to run, swing, and slide. He loves to chase birds and dogs and cats. He loves walking around our neighborhood, pointing out everything he sees and calling it by name until someone responds by telling him he got it right ("...trash, trash, trash, trash, trash, car, car, car, bird, bird, bird, bird, bird, bird...."). Tennyson likes to play with his friends at weekly playgroup, or across the street, or at the park. He also likes coloring and reading and puzzles. He loves to tinker with anything he sees adults use and take it apart and then try to put it back together again. Tennyson mimics everything that he sees his parents doing. During the day he wants to do whatever mommy does. If mommy is vacuuming Tennyson will try to take the vacuum and run it like mommy. If mommy is making pancakes Tennyson wants to pour the flour from the measuring cup into the bowl or break the egg. Mommy tries to let him be as involved as he can be, even if the task takes longer to complete. His favorite indoor activity, though, is definitely taking anything from its rightful place and putting it on the opposite side of the house. Tennyson does not like being confined in any way. Car seats, strollers and high chairs are daily battlefields. But, he does like getting tickled and thrown in the air. Who doesn't?

So, that is what we do.