Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving weekend. I spent Turkey Day flying to Honolulu (much better than flying on the Wednesday prior to Tryptophan Day) for a law school friend’s wedding. Nothing better than spending a long weekend in the sun, catching up with law school friends! We hiked up Diamond Head in the morning, went our separate ways for lunch, then reconvened in the afternoon for a beautiful ceremony.

It dawned on me during the reception that I was really, REALLY enjoying myself. Was it a glass of chardonnay too many (or more likely, the yummy mostly-mayo-crab-salad)?

It feels like such a “duh” thing, but I realized that, other than my bf, no one had checked their phones (except to check the time, or to take a picture). We were all engaged in actual conversation — no stolen glances here and there at work email, whether it be out of necessity or boredom. Although many of my friends have left BigLaw, it has been a while since I had spent an entire day with people who aren’t obsessively checking email, text, or fb. And, I should add, three of us were still at BigLaw. All of us are still practicing full time. It sounds impossible, but it happened, and it was refreshing to feel so…alive.

At the same time, while I pranced around Waikiki finding some great Black Friday deals, my boyfriend spent the entire weekend inside the hotel room, working on a draft of something that is not due for another week.  I know that whatever he’s doing, he’s new at, and he is anxious about doing a good job.  On one hand, it’s admirable that he’s getting a head start on things.  On the other hand, it pains me to see him miss out on the sunshine.  I suppose he, like some others, see it all in a positive light — he’s physically in Hawaii, it’s warm, and he was able to enjoy a wedding, plus one night out before that.  Sometimes I wonder if we should all be putting our heads down and working like that, because that’s what it takes to achieve the dream….or whether we should be living the dream right now.