Thankful Tuesday: The Bar

So, it's fair to say that we've had a lot to be thankful about in our house.  Friday was a really nerve wracking day.  Scratch that, last week was a really nerve wracking week. Scratch that, the last two months have been really nerve wracking.  Let's just say...I've been anxious.

Many of you may know that I took the Bar back in February.  You might be asking yourself, "Wait, didn't Kelly take the Bar in July?"  The answer is yes.  Yes, she did.  Not to make any excuses, but she also had one of the worst stomach bugs she has EVER had during that time.  The type where you can barely keep your head up because you have zero energy.  The type where you have to leave your seat multiple times during testing to essentially run to the restroom to deal with nausea.  The type where you exit your test and you throw up in the parking lot...not once...not twice...but, three times.  It was so bad that a security guard came over to help me and attempted to comfort me. I remember him saying, "Oh honey, it's okay.  The test is all over now!"  But, what he didn't realize was that I wasn't nervous puking.  I was just puking.  Traumatizing to say the least.  So, we had some suspicions that the outcome of that exam wouldn't be what we had hoped.  10 weeks of prep down the drain.  3 months of waiting for results down the drain.  It was a really, really difficult thing for me to swallow.  I just happened to be really lucky that I had an amazing family, and amazing fiance, and a wedding to look forward to.

You probably noticed that nothing was ever said on social media about it. Well, duh....I was embarrassed. I had worked really hard and my body failed me in the end. My family and my friends rallied around me and I started praying harder than ever before. In fact, this blog post alone is really difficult for me to put out there. But, I felt like people should know that you can pick yourself up and try again. Not only because you want to, but really because you HAVE to.

I took a grant from my undergrad, and I worked for several months for Jason Mikell (Mikell Law Firm).  I previously worked for Jason over the summer, and it was great to get back to working with him.  But after the first of the year I started my study regiment over again.  Yes...2 more months of making myself and my husband miserable with studying.

Come test time, my awesome Mom offerred to head to Columbia with me.  She literally sat there all day all three days and waited for me.  Then, she would sit in the bed next to me all night reading a book or doing bills so that I could study some more.  She made sure that I was fed, and she was there to hug me when I had an absolute breakdown after the second day of testing. 

The test is hard.  Seriously hard.  When people tell you the test is hard, I don't think people can even begin to fathom how hard it is.  In South Carolina it is 3 days of testing.  6 hours each day.  And the icing on this cake?  I hand wrote my exam.  BOTH TIMES.  It's awful.  It's exhausting.  It makes you feel like an idiot even though you have a law degree and you have more information than you'll ever need crammed in to your already tired brain.

So, then came Friday.  Judgement day.  I took a half day off of work because I was so anxious.  I was absolutely useless.  So, I drove around town doing errands.  The results were to be posted at 4:00, and of course when the time rolled around I couldn't get the results to load on my phone.  Luckily, my boss immediately texted me a congratulations.  At first I was hoping it wasn't a cruel joke, but I called my husband and he confirmed the good news.

There was my name.  I had passed.  Then, I called my parents and we all just cried for a few minutes.  It's really amazing the amount of relief you feel after something like this.  I'd spent years preparing for this moment.  I seriously have never been so relieved and elated.

Here were some of my favorite responses from phone calls:

"Well Kelly, I was sitting here all day in my chair waiting for you to call me.  I'm real proud of you." - Grandpa

"Kelly, I prayed to God.  I already knew you were going to pass." - Nana

"Now what?  Are you going to law?" - friend (I love that law was made in to a verb)

So, needless to say...I'm excited.  We then spent the weekend celebrating my husband's birthday and my passing.  There was a fancy dinner, lots of drinks, and lots of toasting. A perfect way to end this month.

I passed, y'all.  I'm officially a Lawyer.

xoxo,
Kelly