The Duty That Was Not.

Have you ever been so excited about something that you just couldn’t wait to do it? That was me three weeks ago when I received a jury summons in the mail.

“Walt!” I squealed, holding the piece of paper aloft in the air and shaking it. Walt was lounging on the couch eating cheese (as he does). “Walt! A jury summons!”

He was about to bite into his cheese but hesitated. “You or me?” he asked.

“Me!!”

“Good.”

I’ve always wanted to serve on a jury. Maybe it’s all the bits about “civic duty” that had been drilled into my head during high school, or reading too many John Grisham novels as a teenager, or watching too many episodes of Law & Order: SVU, but I thought it’d be really interesting to be picked for jury duty. I’d received summons before, but I’d always been a student and was excused. This was the first time in 5 years that I’d been asked to do so.

I told everyone I knew that I was summoned. I told guests at my dad’s birthday party; I ran into a friend from college at the airport on the way to New York who is now a lawyer and told her about it; I announced it on Facebook. I was so excited, and the day of my assignment finally arrived. I drove down to the courthouse, paid for an all-day parking spot, walked up the stairs to the 5th floor (so full of energy that I ignored the elevator), and signed in. Settled in to wait with a bag of trail mix and a book, only to be told five minutes later that the judge was dismissing us all because there was no case today. “Thank you for your service,” the clerk said.

What?! That’s it?! I’m not going to even see the inside of a courtroom?! WHAT!!!

I was so disappointed.

But it was a beautiful day — one of those gorgeous days that people wish for when they live in Texas. Blue sky, 80 degrees, soft breeze… the perfect day to sit outside and enjoy the weather. So I called up my friend Caitlin and we had a snack on the patio at Bouldin Creek Café.

So I guess my Monday was pretty great after all.