Went to a cafe this morning to start studying at 7:30. I grab a bagel and a banana and sit down and start hauling out all of my criminal law materials, all the while trying to fight back that anxiety that wants to creep in. (And was greatly increased yesterday after a couple 2Ls asked me who I had for Criminal Law and then after I told them replied with an "Enjoy your C.")
Just when I think I'm sick of this, and I'm ready to give up, enter Pauline, a woman who is employed on the maintenance staff here in Grace Hall. Pauline has 9 kids, and she raised them all by herself, after her husband died in a truck accident. She used to work in the fields in Colorado ~ that's how we got to chatting, and has been here at Notre Dame since the 70s. At one point, she had me tearing up when she was describing her two children who have already passed away. She used to work as maintenance staff in the dorms, and she was so close to her "kids" that she'd loan them her car whenever (she offered it to me numerous times), and the football team once came and painted the entire inside of her house. She's the same age as my mother, with 21 grandchildren and even some great-grandchildren. And now I think no matter how difficult this crim law stuff and Dutile's issue spotter are, I'm going to count my lucky stars that I'm not trying to raise nine kids on my own and I'm still at the point in my life where my friends and family don't fault me for only taking care of myself and trying to better myself and get an education. Especially because should I ever find myself in a situation where I was responsible for 9 other people, I'm pretty sure that I couldn't do it with even half of Pauline's spirit and charm.
In the mean time, back to mens rea and complicity.