I’ll be saying “I do,” in less than three weeks and I
could not be more thrilled about it. Anytime I’d look at vendors
or venues for the wedding, everyone would ask what kind of law I want
to do. I’d quietly mumble, “ummm divorce law…”
It either made for an awkward situation, or got a pretty good laugh. After
spending the summer clerking for Larry Rice and constantly being surrounded
by divorce proceedings, one might think that reading bitter texts and
emails between spouses and other things of that nature would sour me on
the whole idea of marriage. But in fact, it has done the opposite. For
one thing, Larry’s practice is to discourage filing for divorce,
unless it is clearly the only option left.
Seeing all of the events and behaviors that can lead to a divorce has
been instrumental in teaching me what not to do in a marriage and has
led me to have an even greater appreciation for all of the wonderful things
that my fiancé does. It has been a great learning experience for
me to get to see the harder side of marriage, because when you’re
engaged, sometimes you just want to believe that your future marriage
will be sunshine and roses all the time. But there will be trials and
tribulations for every couple, so that dose of reality has been surprisingly
good for me.
Marriage is not something to be taken lightly. It carries great legal,
emotional, and often religious weight. Almost no one enters a marriage
thinking that it will end in divorce. Divorce is a real thing and happens
to many marriages. But, I take great solace in the experiences and people
that I am currently learning from. Even though Larry is a top divorce
lawyer, he has been happily married to his high school sweetheart for
over 40 years. Obviously, this career hasn’t jaded him on the importance
of keeping a marriage together and functioning and has presumably taught
him to treasure his wife even more.
Divorce law hasn’t dampened my excitement to become “Mr. and
Mrs.” In fact, it simply opened my eyes to the real world and made
me value my partner even more than I did before.
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