Happy Holidays

In the American community these are the times when you either travel across the country to visit family or await the arrival of family you may not have seen…well, since last year about this time. These are the days that most people cant wait for, the turkey, ham, cranberry sauce, the aunt that complains that she's cooking too much with little help and swears she'll not do it again next year, even though she's repeated this script for the last four or five decades! The children whom have grown oh so fast, the culmination of in-laws and step-families or the extended family whatever. We get a few days off work, if we're smart we get "sick" right after the holiday so we don't have to make such a hasty return to the grind.

With all of this excitement and prolonged family gathering, there is another community; the legal community. For us, we have a few extra days to complete a document that would have otherwise have been a late filing, or how about the fact that we get some amnesty in returning that "urgent" client call…because all client call are "urgent" right. Well the holidays for me are a bit of both, but for every slice of pie, I check a voicemail, for every sip of nog, I send an e-mail, and just when things are getting relaxed I realize; I have a twenty page document that must be finalized and submitted Monday morning, bright and early. I slip away to the library or den and while the rest of my family are deep in dialog about well what else, family, I am typing, maybe this message, but mostly the preparations for the continuance I desperately need in a city I cant be in on Wednesday, or even how to tell a client I cant continue working on their project even though I know it will almost be devastating for there matter. I worry through my holiday about problems…not my own, but the problems and concerns of others. Trouble that others have gotten themselves into that it is now my challenge to insulate them from, or get them out of it all together and of course if I don't…its now "my fault". Just remember one thing, even though I will be wearing this tuxedo for the next thirty days attending holiday party, Las Vegas shows and Beverly Hills red carpet events throughout the new year…my mind will not only be on my friends and family, but on the problems and worries of everyone whom have charged me with protecting them.

My holiday wish is that I succeed. If this comes true, I will have happily given thanks. J.