will executions

Ohhh today I am so tired, and I don't know why. But I don't want to tell you about today, I want to tell you about yesterday.

As you may or may not already know, I live in Seattle most of the time but for the summer I am a "legal intern" working for the Institute for Indian Estate Planning & Probate which placed me with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) in Mission, Oregon (which is about 5 minutes east of Pendleton, Oregon, which is in the middle of nowhere). So here I am, 4 1/2 hours from Seattle, away from all of my friends, in the middle of the desert in Oregon. And let me tell you, it was already hot at 7:30 this morning. And I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of excited about the weather (a nice change from Seattle gray-ness, but that is beside the point).

Anyway, the Institute for Indian Estate Planning & Probate is located in Seattle and is a part of the Center for Indian Law & Policy at Seattle University School of Law. Therefore, my adviser is an attorney who used to work here in Pendleton as an attorney for the CTUIR for years and years, and he is also the director of the Center for Indian law and policy, which means that he spends a majority of his time in Seattle. So, because I'm only a law student and not someone who is licensed to practice law, I end up e-mailing him 100 times a day with questions and draft documents for him to look over and whatnot.

Don't worry, I'm trying to get to my point... Yesterday, my supervisor, Doug, came down to Pendleton to do will executions with me! This was exciting since him coming down meant I had someone to hang out with for the day, which I usually don't because I am a huge loser here with like no friends here. So Doug came down here, spent the night with his daughter and grand kids and then met me here at work bright and early yesterday morning. We had an 8am meeting scheduled yesterday, but our first client was a no-show (lame). So we just sat in the conference room and chatted. For being my boss who is much much older than I am, he was surprisingly easy to talk to (that could be because older men love me for the most part haha), and he has SO many awesome stories, it's crazy cool. We then had a 10am client who showed up early and got his will all notarized and executed and whatnot. Success! After that we waited for another client who ended up being a no-show, had two clients cancel and then finally dragged one of the ladies from the office into the conference room to get her will revision executed. Two down. After that we waited for another client who never showed up and then Doug asked me if I wanted to go to lunch with him (duh I said yes!).

So he drove me into Pendleton to the Great Pacific Wine & Coffee Co.  Apparently Great Pacific used to be the place where all the cool kids hung out. He was telling me stories about how there was a group of his friends that were regulars at GPW&CC and they used to go there every day and chat and hang out in the same big table in the back and whatnot (which I'd assume would be pretty easy since his old law office was also located on that block, on the top, corner of the old hotel building) and he told me a story about how once him and his friends were jealous of the "rich" people in town going to catilian so they decided to throw a mock coat-tillian in the unused upstairs part of GPW&CC that ended up being like a grown-up prom (if you know how much I LOVE prom then you probably have a pretty good idea of how cool I think this is - I want to do something like that)! Anyway, he bought me lunch, a delicious sharp cheddar, apple & bacon sandwich on wheat bread (probs not the healthiest sandwich ever, but it was so so good) and he ended up running into one of his old friends from back in the day, who teaches at the charter Indian school here at Umatilla. So we talked to him and ate our lunch and it was good.

After lunch Doug drove me around Pendleton and showed me some good places to eat and we drove past the water park (WATER PARK, WHAT? WHO KNEW THERE WAS A WATER PARK IN PENDLETON!! I'm sooo going when Dustin comes to visit - duh)! Anyway, then we drove past the skate park and I saw these kids there and thought to myself "those kids look like my Hood River friends, I feel like I need to go there and be their friends." Random. But then later I totally saw a picture on Dave's FB page of him skating at the Pendleton skate park. It totally was my friends. A-holes. In Pendleton and didn't even call me - SO rude. We're in a fight (hah)!

As I was saying, Doug drove me back through Pendleton and told me stories about his days as a a pistol shooting champion of Oregon (or something), and as a sniper for this time when the president was in Pendleton (there is totally a picture of him and Jimmy Carter in an old Oregonian - cool) and about how his dad totally got sent to Penn. to Indain boarding school and all types of other cool, super badass things.

I really hope that when I'm as old as Doug I have that many super unique and entertaining stories. He has done so so many cool things in his life, and so many important Indian Law things too. I definitely hope that I make a difference for Indians when I'm a real grown up lawyer! Hopes & dreams!

Anyway, today after work I'm headed back to Seattle and I can't wait. The end of this week marks the 1/2 way point in my internship! Hooray! The summer is flying by already (even though we're technically only 1 day in). Happy summer everyone!