Deborah Schmedemann is four years into the second phase of her adult life. After teaching thousands of law students and writing legal textbooks, she now volunteers with immigrants and writes personal essays. Her work has been published in topical anthologies on themes such as change and joy, and she compiled the book, Thorns and Roses: Lawyers Tell Their Pro Bono Stories, her project for the Master Track Program in Creative Nonfiction at the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. She delights in nurturing the three grandchildren of her two daughters. She lives as close as one can get to the Mississippi River in south Minneapolis and now counts Chicago as her second city, thanks to those grandchildren. She travels internationally with her husband, Craig Bower, and around the block with her dog, Columbo.