Be careful what you pray for...Part I

 I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own.  We are not able to plan our own course.  Jeremiah 10:23 (NLT)

The yearbook for my senior year had a class prophecy in it.  You know how those are always so funny at the time.  I will paraphrase but ours said something like this about Jay & I.  "Jay and Sarah are married with two kids and still here in Martinsville.  Jay runs a ranch and Sarah is the court reporter for Clark County."  Now, again, that is just from my memory, but it really did say that Jay had a ranch and I would be the local court reporter.  How weird is that?

But really that became my dream, to be the court reporter here in my home county, and at that point I hadn't even started court reporting school yet, which I soon discovered was difficult and had a very high drop-out rate.  When I did finally finish and get my license, there was no room in the inn for me here in Marshall.  It's a one-horse town, so-to-speak.  Two judges and one reporter pretty much covered it.  I would have to wait it out.  I didn't know the court reporter at the time who worked in Marshall but over time a relationship developed.  "I'm Sarah, I live in Martinsville and I am a court reporter.  Are you ready to retire yet?"   That is pretty much how it evolved.

In 1996 I started my professional career (ha, that sounds so high and mighty, doesn't it?) okay, I started my job as a freelance court reporter.  A very sweet gal in Monticello took me under her wing and showed me the ropes.  I had to do a LOT of driving, but it was worth it.  Most of my jobs were at least 80 miles away.  I did that for about a year and then I had the opportunity for an officialship (which is what it's called when you are a reporter for the judicial system) in Lawrence County.  I wasn't too cracked up about moving down there, but felt like it was an opportunity I could not refuse.  It was my dream to be in the courtroom, here was my chance.

My hope all along was to work down there until the local reporter retired and then transfer to Marshall.  That was my plan and I'm a good nag, but it didn't happen as quickly as I had hoped.  Every few years at our seminar, I would walk up to the local reporter and ask her if she was ready yet.  Nope, maybe in a couple years.  This went on and on.  Finally I gave up.  I decided that I could work forever in Lawrence County waiting and then maybe I wouldn't even get the job up here.  I was tired of the 50-mile commute every day, Jay and I had worked Dave's master financial plan and I pulled the plug.  I would freelance from home and see what happens.

I was fortunate that the local freelance firm would hire me.  One of the owners had been my teacher at court reporting school and I hadn't scared her too badly so they took me in.  I thoroughly enjoyed working for them.  It was so weird to work from home, not work every day, work when I want to (maybe at 12:30 a.m. because I had "played" all day).  I was somewhere different almost every job and I like variation.  It was way better than we had expected and I couldn't have asked for more.  (And a bonus, grocery shopping during the day without children is awesome!)

In the fall of 2009, the local reporter notified me she would probably be retiring very soon, did I want the job?  No, I told her, I'm very happy.  A couple months later, the bailiff contacted me telling me he had heard the reporter was retiring, would I take her place?  No, I thought that was what I wanted, but I'm so very happy.  In January 2010, apparently after her official retirement announcement, the local State's Atty sent word my way that they would like me to consider her job.  Thanks for thinking of me, but I'm not interested at this time.

Again, the reporter called me and we talked for a very long time.  I know it was what I always dreamed of, but I couldn't imagine giving up what I had, the freedom, being close by for my family and my friends.  I had her go over the pros and cons, the set-up here, the judge(s), the workload, etc.  I had worked for 11 years in another circuit and amazingly enough, circuits (although side-by-side geographically) operate very differently. 

I hung up, my mind was whirling.  This had been my dream for so long and now here it was.  She had been the reporter here for 32, would this chance come my way again if I decided I wanted it?  And so the praying began.