Good Friday

Orientation ended yesterday. It was good, but everyone involved is still glad. The real fun is scheduled to begin Monday, but in law school (in case you didn’t know) you have many assignments due on the first day of class – and professors EXPECT you to be ready and randomly call on students – so this weekend won’t be very restful.

Dean Starr hosted a barbecue for all of us newbies in Alumni Park as a nice ending to orientation. It was a family-friendly event, so Jody, Hillary, and my mom had the opportunity to enjoy it, too.

The setting blew us away.

To me, the friendliness of the professors that came to be with us eclipsed the breathtaking setting. Professor Grant Nelson is a world-renowned real estate legal scholar (and my Property professor come Tuesday). Check this out: he came up to ME and knew who I was! He sat with my family, and then asked me about my new friend, Ben (he knew who Ben was, too!). Pretty freaky. Professor Nelson knows a lot about us already.

Pepperdine’s law faculty is ranked #1 in the country in “professor availability,” and that has been evident so far.

The only thing better than the friendliness of the professors (which, if you’re taking notes was even better than the setting) was Jody’s story she shared at the dinner table. Yesterday, in the campus bookstore, she stood in line next to Pat Sajak who was helping his son get settled into college. Jody said he was buying books with his boy. And yes, I asked if he bought any vowels.

Yesterday began with my morning walk (which I plan to write about tomorrow). After that, I drove with Hillary’s newly-updated immunization record to Malibu High School. I drove down the PCH, sunroof open, blaring U2’s “Beautiful Day” on the stereo.

As I looked at the waves roll in on Zuma Beach, a block from Hillary’s new school, I thought about Paul’s statement in Philippians that he knew how to “be abased, and how to abound.” I guess Katrina still brings to mind some feelings of abasement. But now, I sure feel like I’m abounding a lot.

It was a good Friday.