24

I used to love the show "24" starring Kiefer Sutherland.  The premise of the show was that each season was one 24-hour period in the life of anti-terrorist agent Jack Bauer (Sutherland).  Each episode showed one hour in this day and through various cliffhangers and improbably (if not impossible) plot twists, his day just seemed to get worse and worse until--by the end of the day--truth and justice had prevailed.

24 hours ago, I was hating it.  I had two briefs to draft and file by today, I felt like I was coming down with some sort of cold (most likely) due to stress and lack of sleep, and I really wasn't sure how I was going to get everything done.  Labor Day weekend?  Was I really even going to make it that far?

Newport Harbor...the view from our table at lunch...

Fast forward 24 hours (minus the plot twists and turns) and things seem to be falling into place.

• I caught a flash of inspiration on one of my briefs.  The client loved my idea and I saved us all several hours (at least) of tedious work.
• I found just the research that I needed on the other brief and sent it off for the client's comments. He/she loved it too.  Not too shabby since I had been told that we had no chance in Hades of winning on this on, but somehow, I felt like I was able to craft a winning argument.
• The court ruled in my favor on a third brief that I had filed last week.  I was going to have to drive down to San Diego to argue this one this morning, but the other side agreed to accept the judge's ruling which requires them to pay my client over $3,000.00.  Not a lot of money, I know, but it's better than a kick in the pants.  And it's always nice to win.  ;-)
• I got a good decent night's rest.  (A rarity for those who know me.)
• Both briefs got filed this morning.  On time.
• My sore throat disappeared after I took my mom's advice to gargle salt water.  (#motherknowsbest)  (There might have been a Jamba involved in there too somewhere...)
• My boss took me to lunch at his favorite restaurant in Newport Beach.  The above picture shows my lunchtime view.
• At lunch, we laughed hard and out loud about "Triple Threat" associates.  We also laughed about "Bad Form."  They are a couple of inside jokes that I think will make me laugh for a long time.  (If you see me sometime, ask me about it...)  Laughter really can be great medicine.
• I got an invite from a friend on FB to play some game called Dragon Crush(?).  (Just kidding about that last one...even though it really did happen!)
• And finally, I got back to my desk after lunch, only to get a call from one of our legal vendors apologizing that they had overbilled me personally for some services and would be refunding me the difference--nearly $200!  Yay!

Yes, things are not perfect.  For example, Summer is almost over (where did it go?) and in college football, Utah State lost last night to the Utes....  Tomorrow or the next day or next week, I will undoubtedly have more challenges and struggles.  But what's important is not that we have trials and challenges, but rather how we respond to them.

Happy Labor Day!