When I was four, I believed that my life could be painfully and tortuously taken from me, in a ball of flame, crashing down from the heavens, just while I sitting down to a bowl of oatmeal in the morning.
When I was nine, I believed that my life, as I then knew it, would be drastically altered, that I would be tortured for being a JW, and after suffering for who knows how long, I would die (because I still hadn't lived up to Jehovah's expectations).
When I was 13, I wanted to be a nuclear physicist-because it sounded cool, but in the meantime I believed that I would die in armageddon because I wanted to go to college, get really educated, and have a great, "worldly" life.
When I was 15, I felt guilty that I hoped armageddon would never come, because I so desperately wanted to go to college.
When I was 17, I was offered an honors early admissions in a prestigious program in a highly regarded engineering program. My mother flat out said, "NO!"
When I was 18, I scuttled semi-secretly to the local university, part-time, trying to hide my daily activities without actually lying to anyone.
When I was 19 I quit pretending and disassociated. (Thanks to my dad for sticking by me on that one.)
When I was 23 I became a high school math teacher. (Has paid the bills for 16 years, now!)
When I was 25 I bought a house. (If you could call it that)
When I was 30, I bought a second house. (This one really was a house-I still have both, though).
When I was 34, I decided to go to law school.
When I was 38, on November 17, 2006, at 18:25 PST, I learned that I PASSED THE CALIFORNIA BAR EXAM (and on the first try too!).
So,
That's La Capra, Esq. now.
I think I'll go save the world-move over Jesus, the Goat has arrived....
Shoshana (whose champagne buzz has finally worn down to a dull thump).