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Planted in a new path
After 29 rewarding years of working for the same legal firm, in the spring of 2008 it became clear to me that I needed to “repot”—expand my opportunities in a new position. While I was deeply grateful for the professional growth I had gained over many years in a warm, family-like atmosphere, the business I was working at had been downsizing, and when the economic recession of 2008–2009 hit, the existing legal staff could no longer be fully supported.
It was daunting to think of restarting my career, since I saw myself as an already mature attorney with expertise in only one legal area. I knew that the kind of work I did, and that I genuinely enjoyed doing, was research and writing—not the general practice of law or legal work in a particular subject, such as personal injury, business, or insurance. It seemed unlikely that I could find a suitable position with a salary close to what I was making. And as I undertook the process of preparing a résumé and searching the Web for possible positions in my area, I knew that the other attorneys on the staff were doing the same thing.
About the author
Dorothy H. Thomson lives in Davis, California.

July 23, 2012 issue
View Issue-
Letters
Steven Price, Blanche Saul, Candace Gibson
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Rejoicing together
Kim Shippey, Senior Staff Editor
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Borderless community
Walter Rodgers
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How big is good?
Nancy Mullen
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A rising tide lifts all boats
Jeff Ward-Bailey
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My first interfaith experience
Bonnie Mitchinson
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Embracing communities worldwide
Kim Shippey, Senior Staff Editor
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Climate change: What I could do
Elizabeth Graser-Lindsey
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Delight in international giving
Peter Dry
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Praying for a school community
Suzanne Smedley
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The grizzly bear delusion
Glenn Williams
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Salvation
Brian Kissock
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Unlimited resources
Heather Howland Kany
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Planted in a new path
Dorothy H. Thomson
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Love's leading
Tad Blake-Weber
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Seeking the way
Linda Gridley Lane
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The answer
Barbara Whitewater
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Solutions
Charlotte Bushnell
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Marjorie and the Dream
Phyllis W. Zeno
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Focused thought
Richard Albins
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God made you perfect
Megan Meehan
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What are you going to be when you grow up?
Leide Lessa
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Sign me up!
Bob Minnocci
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I shared with my professor
Bruce Matouka
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Your questions about church
Answers offered by Tim Myers and Michelle Nanouche
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'A spiritual model of life'
William Otieno
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The 'more excellent way'
Christa Kreutz
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Finding our God-given freedom
Ann Edwards
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A healing standard
Mark Sappenfield
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A summer of 'radical acts'
Jeff Ward-Bailey
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Lots of Laughs
Madora Kibbe
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Protected during a fall
Norma P. Cooper with contributions from Elizabeth Gibbons
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Chest pains overcome
B. James Jokerst
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Spinal meningitis healed
Charles O'Gorman
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Spine fracture healed
Brooks Rakos
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What makes you who you are?
The Editors