My day in court

Tomorrow I will have my day in court in another attempt to get what my divorce decree entitles me to. Of course, there are lawyers involved, and some of us might remember the character of Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare's Henry VI-- the one who uttered the memorable line, "The first thing we must do is kill all the lawyers." But Shakespeare being Shakespeare, a master of puns and irony and twisted meanings, Dick the Butcher isn't to be taken literally. The lawyers were actually seen as good guys in the play -- the guardians of independent thinking who stood in the way of the revolution Dick wanted.


 Well, love 'em or hate 'em, sometimes we need them. And as Beth pointed out one time, "If there's a next time, I want the really nasty lawyer on my side." I'd say mine isn't nasty, but she's not going to win "Miss Congeniality" either. 


My dad once said, "I expect a man has lived a pretty good life if he never needed a lawyer," to which I replied, "Amen." Alas, I've not escaped that fate. But in this case, I believe the judge, the person who will really hold a big chunk of my future in his hands, is a pretty fair person. Well, he is a man in a tug-of-war between former spouses, but I think he's a man who can be impartial, and that's what I'm hoping for. I just hope he's a happily married man, not one who has been taken to the cleaner's in a divorce hearing. I understand he is such a man -- responsible and happily married, that is.


So before I even step into the courtroom, with Beth and Mitch along for both moral support and needed expertise, I've been told that there will no doubt be a final hearing after this one. I just want a chance to sing my song -- or to have my attorney sing it for me. I just hope it's not over until the fat lady sings. Then we can bring the curtain down.