$3500

That’s how much it will cost to hire this lawyer to do the fiancé visa, employment authorization, and status adjustment to conditional resident. It’s a good law firm, highly respected and awarded and spoken of an all that … but honestly, I hated their parking.

It’s those little things that matter to me. The ONLY parking is in a parking garage which is extremely low and extremely confusing. I DRIVE A PICKUP. Parking garages are my nemesis. Do I really want to pay that much money to have to drive over there to hold my breath and duck down in my pickup (I know, it’s completely irrational to do so, but who cares).

So, I called the Slidell lawyer that I met last month and left a message, asking her to give me a price quote. If it’s even slightly lower, I’ll go there instead. It’s a farther drive, and over a bridge that I have to hold my breath for miles (yeah, there’s a lot of no-breath time while I’m driving), but I like the idea of supporting her better. And she’s probably better qualified than the lawyer I actually met with. This one was fine and I’m sure she’s adequate, but I wasn’t feeling it (and I’m TRYING to not be prejudiced because she went to the nearby law school that is NOT as good as First Choice).

And she said maybe 6-8 months. Man. If it’s going to take that long, I should just do it myself. Sigh. She didn’t really tell me anything that I didn’t know – which is fine, I mean, it is public domain and I could look at it all myself. But the more I think about it, the more I think I can do it myself – and if there are problems along the way, I’ll deal with them or hire a professional then. I mean, I do my own taxes, clean my own house, mow my own grass – surely I can bring a refugee here myself too.

It was just really exhausting, and now I’ll go teach in an hour – which is actually good, because my students perk me right up. I just didn’t get any work done today, and now it’s dinnertime and then worktime. Tomorrow one class is cancelled so I’m out by noon, and I’m starting the weekend for real – I’ll get a haircut … and then I’m not cutting my hair again until Dayton gets here. And I better not become Rapunzel.

I am in pre-negotiations about the free rental place – I meet with them on Saturday after my training to be a Civil Rights Investigator (going to sites accused of housing discrimination). He said, “I hope [son] likes you.” I responded, “I hope we like each other.” It cuts both ways. Wow – if both these things work out, trolling on Craig’s List is SO WORTH IT.

$3500. That’s like closing costs on a house. Which I really don’t want to do without a realtor – I like how they know things and negotiate for me and all that. My last realtor made me $50K more than either of us expected because I went with my gut.

It’s all about my gut feelings. If I feel kinda icky after the meeting, I need to look at why. Sigh. I just want somebody to make all this happen for me!! I just want Dayton here!!