Ode to the Older

There are a handful of people in my classes that graduated college when I graduated high school. There are even some people who graduated college when I graduated from elementary school. This isn't like undergrad where it seemed like 98% of the campus is 18-22. There's an age range and I must say that I've learned a lot from my "elders" (my collegues would probably cringe if they knew that I just called them my elder but I only mean it with the utmost respect).

The other day I was thinking about what lives of some of the older students at my school must be like. I feel exhausted simply after doing all my work. I couldn't even imagine what it must be like to do that school work, take care of the kids, attend to the spouse, do housework, work in a real job, and more. I totally take for granted the luxuries I have, like being able to leave closer to school because my parents are paying for my apartment. I don't have to spend extra time commuting because I have a strict budget that doesn't permit me to live in the District.

Right now, I only need to take care of myself (which at times, does feel like a handful). Being young and unmarried gives me a free pass to be pretty selfish right now. Naturally, I try not to go overboard with this and hope that I'm still a good roommate and a considerate person who talks to her family, boyfriend, and friends. But heck, one of the few perks of a long distance relationship is that I get a lot more me time. I just take care of what I need to do.

All in all, there's no perfect time to go to law school and it depends so much on the individual. But I think that something the advocates of "taking time off" don't mention is that the older you get, the more responsibilities you tend to assume. And while there are people who stellar examples of how to balance full adult/family responsibilities with law school, it still should be one of the many factors that you might want to integrate into your decision. Now that my decision is made, all I can say is that I have a profound respect for my classmates who are doing it and I'll make the best of youthfulness.