Devon Chenelle ‘23
Prose Style Editor
To my shock and bewilderment (time gets weird once the semester begins), I was informed last week that this Tuesday is Valentine’s Day. Although the holiday originated as a feast day honoring the Blessed Saint Valentine,[1] following Christmas’s lead, it has become a more pagan festival dedicated to the commemoration of romantic love. For this piece, I shall explore what the day’s celebration reveals about each year of law school by memorializing how I chose to celebrate the day as a 1L, 2L, and 3L.
Valentine’s Day 2021: All is darkness and cold. I am wracked with anxiety as I reflect on the fact that I am barely 75 percent of the way done with my outlines, and finals are a mere three months away. I see my dreams of legal success fluttering about wildly in the wind, as I desperately strain to grasp at them before they permanently elude my ample wingspan to secure my future and my mother’s pride. I trudge through the Charlottesville weather on my way to the Law School, each bite of the wind slapping at my pride and ignorance. Having moved south of the Mason-Dixon line for the first time in my life mere months earlier, I had anticipated a new tropical lifestyle and neglected to bring a single coat or hat to Charlottesville in favor of Hawaiian shirts and swim trunks. The cold winter air of a Central Virginia February reminded me of how little I knew about North American weather patterns, as well as the law, only six months ago, and I shudder to think of how much still lies before me. As I check Reddit before delving into hours studying the ever-elusive Rule Against Perpetuities, I see that it is apparently Valentine’s Day. I shrug and descend into my studies, equally ignorant of the fact that the RAP would never factor into my life again and of the wonders future Valentine’s Days would hold.
Valentine’s Day 2022: The gloom has lifted and the snow has cleared (metaphorically‚—last winter was pretty rough). I am now an accomplished and confident 2L, with not only a Big Law summer offer in hand but, more importantly, a beautiful and intelligent woman by my side. For the first time, we make a traditional romantic evening of the holiday, as my newfound professional and romantic success emboldens me towards experiencing the finer things in life. We head to Fleurie on the Downtown Mall for a multiple-course prix fixemenu and carefully selected wine pairings, with each explained to us by the restaurant’s resident sommelier. The check reaches the table, and I look with horror at a three-digit number that, I believe, started with a 4. “It’s strictly egg ramen from now until June for me,” I think. This was the finest meal I’d had in years, and I couldn’t possibly conceive how normalized fine dining would soon become, as within a few short months, my summer coworkers and I would blithely order every appetizer on the menu to “try things out.”
Valentine’s Day 2023: Life has continued moving quickly, as have my commitments. As my new professional life approaches, my romantic life continues to reach higher peaks. I am now, it seems, a grown man, with romantic and professional commitments to boot, far from the callow youth terrified of his 1L professors. My lovely and intrepid partner and I have resolved to surpass our culinary excellence from the previous year with an experience sure to satisfy even our refined cultural tastes. In between fielding the never-ending emails flowing into my inbox (I resolve that my commitment to responsiveness will begin now) and the research project I have made my major goal for 3L, I find myself headed to Manhattan, where my date and I will attend one of the first shows of a major Broadway production featuring an American movie starlet cultivating her acting chops by turning to the stage instead of the silver screen. Yet I have not completely outgrown what Charlottesville can provide: I was able to find a delightful, artisanal gift on the Downtown Mall, evincing the taste and artistry that truly makes Charlottesville such a wonderful place to spend three years. I love that, as I have spent time here and, in truth, grown up, this town has been able to keep pace with me, providing me a wonderful first location for a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner, and, even as new commitments draw me to other locales, still offering wonderful opportunities for development and, yes, shopping.
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dnc9hu@virginia.edu
[1] Precisely which Saint Valentine is meant to be honored by the day is historically unclear, though my Catholic education demands at least a cursory review. There are apparently two competing candidates to be “the” Saint Valentine, both of whom were martyred by the Romans during the Third Century A.D.