By the Thinnest of Margins

My client Betty came to the office yesterday, having returned from South America, where she buried her 18 year old son. This is the young man who was terribly burned in 2003, in a fire that killed his sister.

Betty, Paul, Mirta, and I talked of the young man, and all cried. Betty told us that the week before he died, he asked that his mother take some of his lawsuit money to pay for a Christmas feast for the poor children in his native city.

Earler yesterday (a day of misery), another old client came by asking for my advice. I represented her son when he was 9, after he was in a car wreck. The nine year old is now 20, and was living a workaday life until last month, when he went on an excursion with some friends to collect a debt, and the debtor, apparently a drug dealer, ended up dead. The young man is now charged with murder.

This poor lady was understandably bereft. I brought Joel in to chat with her, and Joel is referring her to a friend of his, to hopefully take the case for "only" $25K. $25K will require my client saying goodbye to her life's savings, and then asking her mother to kick in hers.

As I drove home, the message was driven home --how lucky I am by the thinnest of margins. I made Gainesville hotel reservations yesterday am for D1's college graduation. 2 months ago, with a few more mph or a passing 18 wheeler, I might have, like Betty, been making funeral arrangements.

D2 checks her grades each nights, and frets over the rogue "B" that creeps in. With some bad friend choices, or maybe a few milliliters of changed neurochemicals, she might have turned out to be troubled, and Wifey and I could be dealing with the Juvenile Justice System instead of the College Application System.

I NEVER forget how blessed and lucky we are.

Of course, this living on a precipice (as we all do, unless we block out reality) causes anxiety and sleepless nights.

Ironically, Betty told us she's been sleeping well. But I'm sure the nightmares are constant companions...