A Snowy May Day

I wish I had stuck my camera in my purse this morning, but it was one of those mornings. I found my daughter's monthly lunch form that was supposed to be turned in . . . . yesterday ("no late exceptions" in bold on the form). So, I not only had to make a lunch at the last minute, but now also was required to go to the office and plead for "the exception" so she could actually eat for the next month without suffering through my homemade lunches. And it's SNOWING, yes snowing, on May 1st. Actual snow. Huge white flakes. Which means traffic into downtown will be a bear. I'm already late before I even leave the house . . . . and, the icing on the cake, I have a trial today . . . my first trial with my new employer . . . in a town in Colorado I've never been to . . . and it's friggin' snowing . . IN MAY!
I race to school and park . . . oops . . . that's a fire hydrant (isn't there a law about that? . . . oh well, I'll just find another spot). My next spot invokes the wrath of the "carpool police" (this is only for people dropping off their children, you can't park here ). WhatEVER! At least my child can get into the school at this point . . . I still can't. So I drive and park . . . 2 blocks away . . . and now I'm running in my skirt and heels with the lunch forms . . . IN THE SNOW. I plead my case . . . whew! . . . they actually made an exception. Good, good, my daughter can eat, so now off to work . . . except the nice Catholic school office workers tell me I can not leave because it's time for morning prayer and the pledge of allegiance. (Are you kidding me? . . . No, I can tell by your stern looks that I, in fact, am under Catholic house arrest until we pray and pledge. ) Finally, I'm off and running . . . again in the skirt and heels . . . again IN THE SNOW . . . and wow, it's really cold and I left my winter coat at home . . . huh . . . why did I do that? . . . oh yeah, BECAUSE IT'S MAY!



My office is downtown on the top floor of a building. My back wall is nothing but windows overlooking the city. And once I had caught my breath, warmed up, and dried off, I was able to appreciate the snow. I have never, ever, ever seen such large, beautiful flakes. Some were as large as half-dollars. So sad I did not have my camera. Interestingly, there is a huge Four Seasons going up across the street from me (where, for just a few million dollars, I too could live in one of the penthouses and just walk across the street to work every morning), and the guy in the crane was working --- he has to climb an unbelievable amount of metal steps every day, higher than my 14-story building, and get in the crane to work. And he climbed those steps and operated the crane in that incredible snow storm. My colleague who grew up in Michigan said he'd never seen such a thick snow storm before . . . and he's from Michigan!



I reviewed my case, returned a few calls, and had to head out in the snow storm to a town I had never been to, to try my first case in Colorado. When I was driving into the outskirts of the town, I saw a Starbucks sign . . . aah . . . good . . . it's a civilized place. :):) I looked at my watch . . . yes! . . . . I had made good time despite the storm, there was time for a mocha . . . not my usual Starbucks drink, but I needed the combination of chocolate and caffeine to get through the rest of the day. When I arrived at the courthouse, I had to go through metal detectors, and something I was wearing (unknown) set them off, which meant I got to spend an inordinate amount of time with Barney Fife running the scanner up and down me. Finally, I was deemed safe to pass. On the way to the courtroom, I passed windows overlooking a courtyard with the most wonderful sculpture entitled "Called to Jury Duty" --- it was a huge bronze sculpture of ordinary men and women contemplating their call to justice. It really was riveting . . . again, remorse over not sticking the camera in my purse. Oh well, it was time to focus on business at hand. Upon arrival in any courtroom, my usual practice is to approach and shake hands with the opposing party and lawyer . . . there's no reason not to be civil, even if you're about to do battle . . . but, for the first time in 18 years of practice, the plaintiff refused to shake my hand . . . just looked me up and down with disdain. I simply smiled and lowered my hand (and muttered under my breath as I walked away, "that's fine because I'm about to squash you like the bug you are"). His unmasked anger throughout the proceeding worked in my favor with the judge. I prevailed, thankfully. My client was very happy. The day was looking up.



I drove back to the city, this time in rain. It rarely rains here. This is only the second time I've seen it since I moved to Colorado. Because I had left my umbrella safe and dry in the car, I was quite damp for my drive back. Ended up picking my daughter up on the way and just calling it a day. I was cold and tired. When we got home, I treated myself by actually cooking dinner. I had been saving some lime cilantro fettucine purchased from my favorite Italian boutique, Bella Pasta, for a special occasion. Tonight was it. I sauteed some diced chicken in olive oil, threw it into a sundried tomato alfredo sauce, tossed it with the fettucine (which gives off the most amazing citrus smell), and . . . aaaaaaahhhhh . . . it was good, and it was warm. I was so proud of myself for making it, I took a picture with the camera I had wished for all day.







It was raining and 38 degrees outside . . . no cycling or jogging tonight. So I grabbed a blanket, snuggled with Chloe, and watched Grey's Anatomy . . . thank goodness the writers' strike is over!