Amy Carroll

First of all, let me echo a comment that I have seen repeated throughout these bios - it has been wonderful reading about all of you and getting "caught up" in this way before the reunion. I am looking forward next to visiting with you live and in person!

I think the freakiest part of preparing (bracing?) to attend the 20-year reunion is conjuring up the very distinct memory I have of attending my mom's 20-year reunion. She graduated from LAHS in 1960, I was 12 at the time of her 20-year, and I remember thinking "wow, these folks are seriously old if they have all been out of high school for 20 years." Well, as they say, "what goes around, comes around." I still jokingly give my mom a hard time for "forcing" me to be a second-generation LAHS alumnus. As much as I didn't fully appreciate it at the time, I love being from Los Alamos and having grown up there. I am so thankful that I got to be close to my grandparents, who moved to Los Alamos in 1946 so that my grandfather could work for the Zia Company. (As an aside, he passed away peacefully in his sleep in their little house on 6th Street last June 30.)

Let's see ... where have I been in the past 20 years? Well, after graduation I opted, instead of starting college right away, to be an exchange student in Belgium through Rotary International. It was a tough experience - I was very homesick - but one I wouldn't have traded for anything. After a year of speaking French, eating amazing and funky food and getting to know that sweet little country, I returned to the States to attend college at the University of California, San Diego. Four years later, over the protestations of my mom ("Amy, you're NOT going to be a lawyer."), I decided to go to law school. Never wanted to be a lawyer growing up, never really knew any lawyers, didn't know a thing about law firms. I am now a partner at a firm in Washington, DC, practicing in the area of intellectual property (trademarks and copyrights). My job pretty much kicks my ass every day (Can I say that? Would "keeps me on my toes" be better?), but it is at the same time incredibly fulfilling.

I met my husband Brett at work in 1997 and we were married in 1999. Brett is a lawyer, too, but his real passion is sailing. We have sailed off the coast of Turkey, in the San Juan Islands, in the British Virgin Islands, in the Leeward Islands (the photo below is on St. Barths) and, of course, close to home in the Chesapeake Bay. Considering that I grew up in that land-locked state, I feel pretty fortunate to have found my "sea legs" and really enjoy sailing. That being said, I love and miss New Mexico and the mountains almost every day (perhaps should have thought about that before I married a sailor).

Almost 6 years ago, I decided to take up running. It was right after September 11, which affected me in a profound way as I'm sure it did most of us. My firm had a small office on the 89th floor of Tower One (the first tower that was hit - the 89th floor was just 3 floors below the lowest point of impact) but, miraculously, we didn't lose one person that morning. I myself was in my office 2 blocks from the White House when the attacks occurred and, as we were all watching events unfold, my husband called me from his office and said "I want you to come over here, and we're getting out of town." Good plan! In any event, I kept reflecting in the aftermath on all of the people who died and their unfulfilled plans. How many of them had been putting off taking a vacation, calling an old friend, pursuing a life-long dream? Perhaps a weird motivator, but I took up running that September and have never looked back. In 2002 I ran my first Marine Corps Marathon - what a trip! I have run 2 more since, and am signed up to run again in October. Running helps me in so many ways, and I find the lessons I have learned from pushing myself and listening to my body translate to many other parts of my life. ("Sometimes you gotta stop for the pain, sometimes you gotta run through it." The finish line is always in "just one more mile.")

Guess that about covers it - 20 years in one page. Can't wait to see you all soon!

Amy