"I can only note that the past is beautiful because one never realizes an emotion at the time. It expands later, and thus we don't have complete emotions about the present, only about the past." —Virginia Woolf

I come from people who are highly suspicious of lawyers. Actually, lawyers are at the top of a long list of suit-wearing professionals my people deeply distrust. My people fix cars, clean houses, work at fast food restaurants, laundry-mats, daycares, factories and diners. Since entering the legal profession in 2012, when asked what I do for work, I've responded with something along the lines of "I am a lawyer, but the good kind." Then I'd go on to over-explain what I do, usually eliciting some remark like "oh that's awesome!" Combined with my time as a paralegal, I have worked in public interest law for the last 18 years. As I transition out of public interest work into private practice, I realize how much public interest work has become my identity.