Desperately Seeking Counsel

I needed to find a lawyer and I needed to find one fast. On Sunday, I spoke with a friend's daughter who is a family practice attorney. She explained the process to me, answered all of my queries, sounded very competent, was very nice and easy to talk to. The only drawback is that her practice is in downtown Chicago. I live in a northern suburb (about 30 miles away) and in a different county, which might present some challenges down the road. I also had the names of two other attorneys in my area who I wanted to consult with as well and called them up on Monday morning. One couldn't see me until Friday (too long of a wait). The other had an opening that afternoon at 4:00. I made an appointment to meet him. We talked for quite some time. He seemed aggressive in his approach as to how he would handle my case (which is what I needed). He wanted to get to court as soon as possible to file for divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences and mental cruelty and get an emergency TRO (temporary restraining order to prevent my husband from spending the money he took out of our account). Since I didn't have the luxury of time to meet the other attorneys in person, I hired this one. At that moment, I felt confident in my decision.

Discussing my upcoming divorce with him seemed so surreal. After all the years of wanting to end my marriage and finding a million excuses why I wasn't ready to do it, I was actually going through with this. Suddenly my mind was flooded with all of the thoughts, questions. fears and concerns that kept me paralyzed from moving forward for so long. How was I going to handle the stress of a divorce when I had so many other issues to contend with as well? How was I going to make it on my own? How would I manage financially? Would I grow old alone?

At that point I decided to resign myself to the fact that I wouldn't have to wonder much longer. What choice did I really have? In the grand scheme of things, it was time to move forward.