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"I'm sorry to keep asking you for legal help, but you are the only lawyer I know. " Her e-mail read this morning. My first thought was "how cute! I'm the only lawyer she knows", whereas I am surrounded by lawyers at work and amongst friends and it is very difficult for me to imagine a life without the law and everything in it. Then I went on doing my usual tasks of the day...you know, reading, researching, analyzing, writing...the lawyer stuff.

Sometime mid-day, after having had enough coffee and sugar, it hit me:

" I AM THE ONLY LAWYER A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW:

1) Mr. S had e-mailed me last week with some insurance fraud question.

2) Mr. H wanted advise a few months ago on a collection case. His wife, Mrs. H, called me from the airport when her mother had an immigration issue.

3) Uncle X, before he lost touch, would call me occasionally with landlord-tenant questions. (and once I refused to do something for him, he got angry and revolted against my poor parents instead).

4) R's aunt, even though she has hired her own lawyer, called me for second opinion.

5) When Y called and left a msg. that she had put down my name as her family law attorney, I got pissed off...thought that was just crossing the line.

and the list goes on and on...

Wow. I have to admit this is an ego booster. But only if the knew about my faults, my shortcomings, my negative thoughts and my occasional lack of self-esteem...they would stop calling.

If that's not enough, other people know they can rely on me for various reasons such as money, my car, my home, my name { but NOT my credit--which incidentally I am happy about, otherwise I had to go on co-signing people's transactions too}. Apparently, somewhere along the line, I have given the false impression of being a stable, responsible citizen to others.

Am I? What if I tell them all I don't want to pay back my student loans and rather, I want to run away to an island free of those loans without any U.S. jurisdiction?

Who am I going to rely on myself?