Rough day watching other people’s relationships in action.  There were a lot of reasons I never wanted to get back into family law, and the emotional stress of spending too much time dwelling on the issues from failed relationships tended to make me dark and cynical.  Even darker and more cynical than I was after the nine years with State.  Hearing all the stories and witnessing on the pain can make you spend too much time saying ‘what if’ when dealing with your own life.  Better to live the life.  I think I’m handling it better this time around – having someone around to slap me back to reality when needed helps.  But after this morning I’m really ready for a vacation.  Sure, I’m scheduled to swing by the courthouse on Monday and put the legal stake in someone else’s marriage, but it’s been undead for years and both sides need to move on.  Fortunately they’re getting divorced in Ventura, on the way to this year’s vacation central.  So after legalizing that reality, I can put the file away and spend three days on the beach with Spinner and Diego.  Eat good food, see good friends, ride good waves, take some (hopefully good) photographs.  All the things that go with vacation.