I realised that I failed to celebrate or even notice the auspicious first anniversary of blogging about Life After Law (9th December 2010) but now that my brain has caught up (I've been watching a *lot* of Nativity plays) I have reflected a little on the last year since I wrote that first blog post.
Much has changed. The littlest Non Lawyer has had a phenomenal year since I started blogging. We've had a diagnosis (finally) of Autistic Spectrum Disorder and at the same time a year where his inclusion and achievement at school has exceeded our wildest expectations. Simultaneously, surreptitiously, some of the aspects of living with autism have become more pronounced, distinctive, obvious and challenging - and of course we've all been managing it all for another 12 months. So sometimes we feel a bit tired. But nothing could have prepared us for the unbelievable sense of triumph we feel on his behalf - the shared elation that we the parents and Big Sister feel for him when he, for example, takes part in his Nativity play in costume, on stage and joins in - or, actually, just as huge - wears his own clothes to school on non-uniform day (because school not in uniform was Just Wrong for a long time).
I've come to terms with the conclusive (mutually goodwilled) formal severing of contractual relations with The Firm and the lapse of my inclusion on the roll of solicitors because instead of filling out a "keep me on the list" form I filled out complicated statement of special educational needs documents. It's almost as if Lawyer Me never was! (Almost, you can take the girl out of the law......)
I've had space and time to adapt to all the roles my life includes today: wife, mother, carer, ASD "expert" (self taught), volunteer barista & waitress (a satisfying improvement on my university era attempts at the coffee waitressing role- think Rachel in Friends!), youthwork administrator, friend. Singer. The question "what do you do" (real meaning "who are you") is still hard to answer. (Occasionally I just Can't Help Myself and answer "lion tamer")
I have also reached another anniversary - the passing of 12 months since I began studying with Wonderful Singing Teacher. I've learned a huge amount (at least a thousand times or more still to learn) about singing technique, performance, the unexpected (and colourful) perils and pitfalls of going into the opera business. But more than that I've learned how important music is to me - how vital singing is to my ability to understand myself enough to answer the question "who am I" - and that is whether anyone else hears it or not (tree falling in the forest etc, very "zen")
So what next? Dear reader, you will have to watch this space. But I'll be singing as I go. While my hyper
-sensitive-to-sound autistic child asks me to keep it down!
