I spent the afternoon sorting out a pile of estate documents for an elderly gentleman. His wife has developed dementia and he lives by himself in an assisted living facility. They have four children: two boys, two girls (twins). All adults. They all get along. This gentleman had some schlocky estate planning work done several years ago. It isn't hosed up, and we can get done what has to be done, but as I sit here with my Starbucks coffee I cannot help but reflect upon his life. He and his wife raised a family. They could enjoy a modest retirement and grow old together. And yet dementia has snatched his wife from him.
He is a delightful man and I'd like to get to know him as a person. Ninety-one (91) years of age and still driving - SAFELY! He writes some poetry. Getting to know him as a friend would be a treat.
Stuff like this makes being a lawyer fun.
He is a delightful man and I'd like to get to know him as a person. Ninety-one (91) years of age and still driving - SAFELY! He writes some poetry. Getting to know him as a friend would be a treat.
Stuff like this makes being a lawyer fun.
- Current Location:Starbucks, Cal State Fullerton
- Current Mood:
touched
“Much as we wish, not one of us can bring back yesterday or shape tomorrow. Only today is ours, and it will not be ours for long, and once it is gone it will never in all time be ours again. Thou only knowest what it holds in store for us, yet even we know something of what it will hold. The chance to speak the truth, to show mercy, to ease another’s burden. The chance to resist evil, to remember all the good times and good people of our past, to be brave, to be strong, to be glad.”
― Frederick Buechner, The Hungering Dark
The first entry in my resolved an entry a day promise to myself
― Frederick Buechner, The Hungering Dark
The first entry in my resolved an entry a day promise to myself
- Current Mood:
confused
December 24th, 1979. I finished an alert tour with my partner and had dinner at his house. I then set sail for Pembina, North Dakota, about 100 miles up the road and on the Canadian border. A fraternity brother had offered some Christmas hospitality with his family, knowing that I was an Air Force guy and otherwise destined for a "by myself" holiday.
As I drove up I-29, there was not a car to be seen anywhere. It was +1 degree farenheit and a slight breeze blowing. Near Joilet, North Dakota, I hit a patch of black ice that had been hidden by a thin coat of wind blown snow. I spun once, then twice, then I saw a sign approaching through the driver's side window. I managed to pirouette around the sign and promptly slide into the ditch!
When the snow stopped flying I took stock of my situation: It was 10:00 PM on Christmas Eve, one degree above zero, and I was ten feet below the road, in a ditch, in Joilet, North Dakota. This is clearly not the way to spend Christmas Eve. I managed to crawl out the window and get to the trunk for the sleeping bag and surival candle. The candle can make just enough heat to keep someone from freezing to death inside a car - maybe.
I got the candle lit and crawled into the sleeping bag; sleeping was not a possibility lest I freeze to death.
About 30 minutes later I saw a flash and then a beam hit the window.
Someone stumbled down the bank and tapped on the window. "You be needin' a hand?" he asked? I replied that I could use a ride to town lest I freeze and he said hop in. I crawled out of the window (deep snow prevented me from opening the door) and I went up to his pick up along the interstate.
After we started off I asked how he had seen me and he replied that he saw the tracks left by the wheels as they went over the side. He didn't see any tracks coming out and he guessed that I was still down there.
He then asked where I was going and I replied that I was going to spend Christmas with my fraternity brother, Bert Allen. His face lit up with a smile - "You mean Doc Allen's boy?" I said yes, and asked if he knew the Allen family. His response was simply "Well, I 'spouse so - they live next door!"
As I drove up I-29, there was not a car to be seen anywhere. It was +1 degree farenheit and a slight breeze blowing. Near Joilet, North Dakota, I hit a patch of black ice that had been hidden by a thin coat of wind blown snow. I spun once, then twice, then I saw a sign approaching through the driver's side window. I managed to pirouette around the sign and promptly slide into the ditch!
When the snow stopped flying I took stock of my situation: It was 10:00 PM on Christmas Eve, one degree above zero, and I was ten feet below the road, in a ditch, in Joilet, North Dakota. This is clearly not the way to spend Christmas Eve. I managed to crawl out the window and get to the trunk for the sleeping bag and surival candle. The candle can make just enough heat to keep someone from freezing to death inside a car - maybe.
I got the candle lit and crawled into the sleeping bag; sleeping was not a possibility lest I freeze to death.
About 30 minutes later I saw a flash and then a beam hit the window.
Someone stumbled down the bank and tapped on the window. "You be needin' a hand?" he asked? I replied that I could use a ride to town lest I freeze and he said hop in. I crawled out of the window (deep snow prevented me from opening the door) and I went up to his pick up along the interstate.
After we started off I asked how he had seen me and he replied that he saw the tracks left by the wheels as they went over the side. He didn't see any tracks coming out and he guessed that I was still down there.
He then asked where I was going and I replied that I was going to spend Christmas with my fraternity brother, Bert Allen. His face lit up with a smile - "You mean Doc Allen's boy?" I said yes, and asked if he knew the Allen family. His response was simply "Well, I 'spouse so - they live next door!"
- Current Mood:
restless
From childhood's hour I have not been
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then - in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life - was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.
As others were; I have not seen
As others saw; I could not bring
My passions from a common spring.
From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone.
Then - in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life - was drawn
From every depth of good and ill
The mystery which binds me still:
From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view.
If you could travel back in time and ask any deceased political figure (famous or infamous) a single question, who would you choose, and what would you ask?
Churchill: Would you like to share a glass of claret?
Reggie Bush Surrenders Heisman Trophy, Issues Statement -- NFL FanHouse
He makes it sound voluntary. BOO-HOO
He makes it sound voluntary. BOO-HOO
- Current Mood:
infuriated
Do you think you would you risk your life to save a stranger? Would it make a difference if it were an elderly person or a child? What about a neighbor's dog or cat?
Been there, done that, saved the dog. And then was a suspect!
A busy evening ahead: Scanning documents, filing hard copies, spaghetti for dinner, dishes, laundry . . .
Ain't life exciting!
Ain't life exciting!
- Current Mood:
blah
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