Rivals

Was it Abraham Lincoln who said "A House [of Nash] divided cannot stand"?

Back when Paul and I were studying for the LSAT's (law school entrance exams), Paul would half-jokingly announce to me before each practice test "I don't care what my score is so long as it is higher than yours." This made me laugh villainously and I always tried to set the benchmark as high as I could. After all, I don't really see anything wrong with a little healthy competition.

When it came time to decide which law school to go to, we did the unthinkable and I stayed at BYU while Paul jumped ship for the U of U. Whenever we tell people that we attended rival schools at the same time while married, we always get a reaction and a hearty "and you're still together?!" exclamation of mock shock. Turns out though, the different schools were perfect for us because it meant we didn't have to go head-to-head with each other in any of our classes for the top grade. A little healthy competition is good, but three years worth of it in every class might have been detrimental to our mental health.

We sort of freaked each other out when we took the bar exam because after each day of the 3-day exam we would compare answers and always felt like we had come up with totally different results. By the time scores we released 4 months later, I was sure that I had failed and Paul had passed. Fortunately, in that situation it didn't matter who did better (and in fact, California doesn't even release results on scores other than a "you passed" message) and we both were admitted to the Bar.

This past week, Paul got offered a job at one of the most prestigious Bay Area law firms, which just so happens to be the biggest competitor of the law firm that I work for. That detail won't/shouldn't actually affect either of us or our practices since I am a litigator and Paul does real estate law, but I still think it is hilarious that once again we find ourselves at rival institutions. I felt the first effect of this yesterday when Paul gloated to me that his new firm offers iPhones, which is admittedly sexier than my firm's functional but passé blackberry. I fired back that if Paul gets an iPhone through his firm, then I am upgrading my personal phone as well (which I have been trying to convince him about for a while now). And so it begins. :)

Paul is very sad to be leaving the lawyer he has been working with at a small real estate law firm for the past year, but we are both excited about the opportunities this new job will open up to him. We've even talked about commuting together every now and then since our firms are pretty much across the street from each other.

Mr. Lincoln, you are absolutely one of my heroes, but I think Paul and I have this under control.