Futurelawyer

I Already Regert This Post.

Commas and Spelling and Grammar, Oh My!

Obituary.

I wrote your obituary today.
I told the truth
But not the whole truth.
I wrote the truth that we all tell each other
and others
and post on Facebook walls
and in Newspapers
I didn’t write the truth we keep in our hearts.

I didn’t write about the battles we fought together
and alone.
I didn’t write about the secrets we kept from others
and from ourselves.
I didn’t write about the truths we humans
don’t want others to know.

I wrote about your accomplishments
I wrote about the love others had for you
I wrote about the public face
we all show the world.

But, I didn’t write about your incandescent eyes
I didn’t write about your caring soul
I didn’t write about the wry tilt of your head
When I was being ridiculous.

I didn’t write about the words we spoke
in the night.
I didn’t write the truths we admitted to each other
in the early morning light.
I didn’t write about our sins, our faults, or our failings.
I didn’t write about the daily struggles we faced
in a world consumed by desire and evil.

I wanted to write about the heartache of a string of days without you.
I wanted to express the pain of loss
I wanted to tell the world that you were the best person I ever knew.

I only told them what they wanted to hear.

Sunday Paper.

It was a typical Sunday.

He spent some time reading obituaries,

with his morning coffee

and a toasted bagel.

This one died suddenly.

That one passed away peacefully.

Another died in an accident.

All died too soon.

All died leaving loving relatives and friends.

Some had many of them.

Their obituaries were long and short.

Some had lists of life accomplishments.

Some didn't.

The obituary page

is required reading

for those of us

who need to know if we are dead.

We all wonder what our obituary will say.

We all know that we will have one written some day.

I don’t want to go out that way.

I want to write the words

that won’t be remembered

beyond the pages thrown away.

Google Pixel 3A XL - Still Relevant After All These Years.

Is Google Pixel 3A Still Worth It? My readers know that I own many smartphones. However, I only keep 4 or 5 active at any time. Choosing the most relevant is an ongoing process. My current stable includes a Google Pixel 3A XL, which is 4 years old, and nearing the end of its useful life. However, being a Google phone, it gets updates faster than any other phone, and my 4 year old phone already has Android 12. You can get one today for under $200; and, even though it is a 4G LTE phone in a 5G world, it is small and light and usable with one hand, and it works great still. If you need a good backup phone for less than $200 that has the latest version of Android, it is the one to get. Remember, the person with the most smartphones wins.

Hey, FutureLawyer! Have Any Weekend Plans?

Not really. I just want to be left alone to my own devices.

#ParrotSunday - XCaret Mexico

My beautiful Diane on our memorable visit to a Parrot Paradise in Mexico. Someday, I want to revisit XCaret. It is a beautiful place.

#WhyIAmASolo - Read Solo By Choice For The Answer.

Solo By Choice - Carolyn Elefant. Carolyn Elefant is one of my heroes. We both began our solo practices against our will. I was a young lawyer of 24 who couldn't get a decent job at a firm. I thought I was doomed to failure. I opened a two man practice with a fellow law student, and realized, early on, that I liked being my own boss. I liked making my own decisions. A few years later, I opened my own practice, when my two partners' interests and mine diverged. It was an amicable parting, and I never looked back. When Carolyn was told by her firm that she wasn't "partner material" she began a solo practice, and, like me, discovered the life long benefits of being your own boss. If you are considering solo practice, buy this book. Read this book. Follow this book. Success isn't always about having a million dollar house, or a limitless pot of money; especially, if you are spending 80 hours a week doing another's bidding. Success is about the freedom to wake up every day, and do something you love, and getting paid a reasonable amount to do it. Success is about spending as much time as you want every day working, and playing, and loving, and being a friend, and just living well. Thanks, Carolyn, for spreading the solo gospel. You are my hero.

There Is A God.

Sorry, but the proof that there is a God is Single Malt Scotch.

Stop Making Lists And Get On With It.

We, the organized. We, the list makers. We, the ones that get things done, because we make lists. We need an adjustment. We get today. Today only. Really. Get over it. You get to decide how to spend the next few hours. That is the only guarantee you have. Spend this Saturday, and every day gifted after that, living. 

The FutureLawyer Isn't Old...He Is Experienced.

I just received a letter from the Florida Bar, advising me that I am one of the 600 lawyers who will be honored at a luncheon at this year's Florida Bar Convention. The honor? I will have been an active member of the Florida Bar for Fifty (50) years. Think about that for a moment. In my brain, I still am 24 years old, just out of law school, and renting an office downtown next to an all night liquor store, and across the street from a used car lot. I suppose just living this long is an accomplishment; but, the Stoic in me realizes that it is merely fate. I will be counting the next few years, and trying to equal the lawyers who have practiced law until they were 100. Only 50 years to go.