The Near Octogenarian.

Got away this weekend.... to some coastal New England Town.  Very nice... beautiful homes on rocky cliffs with ocean views.  Great seafood.  Wonderful people.  It was amazing.  Even on my little getaway, I couldn't get away from horrible tales of careers gone bad--"bad" being synonymous with "legal."  

We walked into a nice little market that sold wares produced by third world peoples.  Everything in the store went to benefit the less fortunate inhabitants of the world. We got to talking with the proprietor of the store.  We started discussing her labor of love and what her children are doing and whether we think college is necessary to succeed in life.  We all agreed that it didn't.  Then, ironically, the lady came up with a great example.

Her very own mother...

Her mother was a scrub nurse at a large city hospital and worked her way up to hospital administrator.  She had a great career and made very good money.  Then, at 52, she decided that she wanted to give more to the world (lol).  She decided to go to law school.  So, now--at the ripe old age of 76--she just finished paying off her student loans.  And yes, she is still working.  She's nearly the Octogenarian that we studied about in Property Law and she is still working.  What happened to retirement?  Do you want to look like a grandma and still haul your ass to court to be spoken down to by a 50-something year old judge?  

I asked why she didn't retire, and her daughter said that she didn't invest her money as she should have.  Well, maybe she could have invested her extra income, if it didn't go to paying law school.  I read on another blog recently that there is rampant age discrimination in our field.  I'm wondering how much of this is true and I can only imagine what this poor woman faces day to day.  Law school is an unwise decision at 22, and is it even dumber to go when you're over 50?  Just thinking aloud.  And for some reason, I doubt she's giving more to society as a lawyer. I, personally, took from society as an attorney.  At times, I felt like I was paving my own road to hell.