Molly's Bad Day; Law School Orientation Tomorrow

My dad is convinced that since he trained the squirrels to eat by the door, he can train Molly not to slam her face into the glass window while they're doing it. The squirrels, on the other hand, seem to understand that Molly can not reach them and taunt her endlessly.

Sadly, this post is not as fun to write as I thought it would be when I took the picture. This afternoon, while I was walking Molly, she stepped into a bush and returned with a baby bunny. I ordered her to immediately drop it. She did and the bunny limped up the walkway to my neighbors porch. I pushed Maggie (oblivious) and Molly back into the house and had my mom call the humane society. They said they would take it, so I headed back out with a shoebox. By this time, the bunny had died. I was very sad and, strangely, I was actually angry at Molly. I know logically that she is a dog and that this is just part of her nature, but the bunny was so tiny and soft and sad looking, I felt very protective of it. I keep trying to tell myself that it must have been sick, because it didn't even hop away from her and I also try to tell myself that she didn't mean to kill it, she just wanted to play with it and carry it around like she does her "babies." But neither makes me feel any better. It is sad when something small and soft and snuggly dies and it weighs on me that my Molly was the predator.

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Law School Orientation begins tomorrow. We start at the Central Missouri Food Bank doing a volunteer service project. How cool is that? There is no doubt that a law school that begins their orientation with action like this is the right place for me. In the introduction letter, they explain the choice to begin orientation like this as "an effort to emphasize the importance the School of Law places on service to others."

My first questions: How many law schools do this? How did it start? How many of the 150 new Law students will show up for this non-mandatory part of the orientation? What faculty will be there? Will we do more service projects throughout the year?

After the food bank, it looks like there will be some introduction speeches and a lot of bureaucratic stuff. Student photos for the law school student facesheet should be fun with my eye just as red as it was two days ago. Then in the afternoon we watch and discuss "To Kill a Mockingbird."

I'm nervous and excited. Sometimes, when I think of everybody setting up their classrooms and how comfortable and content I would be there, I wonder why I am doing this big scary new thing. I will meet 150+ people tomorrow, people that I will learn and grow with over the next three years. Since patience isn't my strength, I am desperate to know how all this will work out over the next semester. What will my impressions of law school be in four months? How will I change and will I be able to keep the all important passionate parts of myself?