The Most Difficult Finals of My Life

Three semesters down and three to go. It’s actually difficult to wrap my head around but in another year and half, classes will be over, I’ll have graduated and I’ll be finishing up my preparations for bar exam. I’ve been now been through three rounds of finals and there is no doubt that this semester was the toughest yet…and not just because of the course material. The day before my Evidence final, I got a call from my dad that I had been dreading – my grandma passed away earlier that day. I’m still processing it I don’t yet have the words to articulate how I’m feeling but I wanted to make this blog post about my experience handling the death of a close family member in the midst of finals.

My grandma, Marguerite Bivens, passed away on December 5th. I’m eternally grateful that I was able to make time to go visit her just two weeks before it happened. She was in a recovery center after several weeks in the hospital. We had hope that she could recover and we even talked about her coming to live with my parents after she got out to the recovery center. But it wasn’t meant to be. I wasn’t with her when she passed but I understand that she passed peacefully in her sleep surrounded by family.

I used the winter break to actually take a break. I got spend time with Clau, I rested, got back in the water and swam, and reconnected with people I hadn’t seen much of since starting school. I got to spend quality time with friends and family I hadn’t seen in months and even years. Now that the break is over, I’m back for the Spring semester ready to take on more challenges and move forward to finish out the year.

To end things on a positive note, this semester wasn’t all bad news. This past October, Clau and I added member of our small family. We adopted another puppy! His name is Riley and, though he’s a little on the shy side, he’s cute as a button. Hopefully he’ll come out of his shell as he gets used to his new fur-ever home.