Changes at Ave

The picture below is a view from the seat where I sat during almost every class of my first year of law school.

This is a picture of the room today it is being renovated. Josh is overseeing construction.

It tends to be the case that law students learn the vast majority of their legal knowledge in their first year, which is also often the most difficult year. I learned a significant percentage of what I know about the law while sitting in this very spot. I swear just sitting here makes me feel like Murphy could call on me at any second.

As you can see, there are changes taking place at Ave Maria. Some are physical, others not as much. Some are improvements, others, again, not so much. Though I had known for some time that renovations had already begun, I was pretty blown away when I strolled into the room today and saw that the wall that used to separate this room from 116 is now gone and the room is being transformed into a much larger classroom to accommodate a larger student body.

I guess there is nothing wrong with this. It's just, I don't know, not something I was prepared for. You see, my time as a student at Ave Maria was a very special time in my life, particularly my 1L year, which was at once ovewhelming, exhausting and exhilerating. My marriage was relatively new, I was given the opportunity to prove that I belonged in a difficult professional degree program and I faced the challenge of my life. I look back on those days fondly.

I can't entirely explain why, but it seems to me that this seat in this room in this building was just supposed to remain forever.

With last month's graduation, there really aren't any more students at the law school that I knew well while I was a student. Things have changed so much in the year since my own graduation that some days I barely recognize the place. Seeing the actual physical transformation of this important room only accentuates that fact. In fact, this seat or its equivalent may be in Florida in a few short years.

Unlike many others, I'm not necessarily against such a move. But 50 years from now when I'm concluding a successful legal career, I'm sure I would have taken some comfort in knowing that this seat in this room in this school is exactly as it was when I was a 1L at Ave Maria. Knowing that it has already changed was an emotional experience that quite honestly caught me off guard.

I have no option now but to seek consolation in the knowledge that, though the physical place may no longer exist, nothing can remove the image from my mind. Imaging it now brings back very vivid memories of the challenge, the faith that saw me through and the woman who has stood by my side through thick and thin. Maybe the lesson is that those things are eternal and far more important than a seat in a room in a building. But still, it wasn't supposed to change.