Giving Back

My father took amazing care of his family --from working 3 jobs after WW II, to always having time to go to my baseball PRACTICES, as well as games. But he never really had time for charities. Part of this was his distaste for being a "joiner," as he called it -- being part of a group (other than his family). This came out of his distaste for all things military and bureaucratic. I guess giving up nearly 4 years of his life to the US Army as a young man was plenty for him. Ancient Mom was different. She joined my PTA, and an Israeli education charity called ORT. In retirement, she drove disabled folks to appointments, and rang up 3000 hours as a candy striper at Delray Hospital. I'm proud to say my family has followed Mom's lead. D2 does charity work mostly through her sorority, and Wifey is always helping "the aaaaaanimals" when she can -- volunteering at shelters and such. Yesterday was a big day for D1 and me. D1 got up early, and drove to Homestead, with spoiled spaniel in tow. She took her to a Junior League event at a battered woman's shelter -- the kids and adult victims, who can't have pets while escaping from lousy bastards, get to bond with the volunteer dogs. While she was there, I was in an 8 hour training for my latest project: Guardian Ad Litem volunteer. Even though my partner Paul works 80-90 hours per week as a lawyer, not slowing down a BIT, he still finds about 20 hours per week to do this work. He joined the program almost 3 years ago, and is now a leader: the go to guy in Dependency Court for several judges, who rely on his investigations and advice about where abused and neglected kids should be placed. He convinced me to join, and since I work LESS than 70-90 weekly lawyer hours, I agreed. I took an online course, and now yesterday was a full 8 hours. Next Saturday is the same, and then I get my first case. The class was surprisingly interesting. Our trainer was a 24 year old linebacker sized man named Darion, who has a degree in International Languages from Seton Hall. he's wise, caring, and impressive beyond his years. I was the only man among the 8 participants, and Darion and I bonded right away. He moved to South Florida last year, to Coral Springs, but realized it's not the place for a young, single professional: he's got a place in Bay Harbor Islands lined up, and hangs on Brickell, where he belongs. The other folks were a 60 something labor lawyer, who's bored as an empty nester, and several young ladies who were themselves "in the system" as kids, and now as succesful young adults, want to give back, too. So some new experiences are coming. Working as a lawyer for no money...Ha. What a concept. I'm a lucky man to have the time...