Ah, a simple pleasure to a young man, not so easy as an old one: falling asleep and staying asleep 7 entire hours. I was granted that last night, and as much as my news hungry self likes to check the world's affairs when I arise for a 2 or 3 am pee -- turns out the world did just fine without my supervision.
Yesterday I SUVed up to Little Haiti, sans Wifey, to meet D1 at a trendy place called Flora. She had the skittish Spaniel in tow, and as we waited our friends Lauren and Jamie, a stereotypically gay man at the next table asked if he could hold and pet Lemon. He could, and his stereotypically gay ally woman friend asked "Are you selling him?" D1 was not.
Lauren is an ATL lawyer I met in 1990 on a case. She's a UVA and Duke grad and was working for a big firm that defended Coca Cola. We had a case, referred to my boss Ed by John, a Navy vet lawyer who got lots of cases from Key West sailors and their families. This one involved a 15 year old boy in Jville who toppled a soda machine onto himself as he rocked it, pinning himself against a wall in his apartment building and suffocating. Turned out these incidents were sort of common -- we ended up handling several of them. Soda machines were very top heavy -- the product was stored up high and used gravity to dispense. Now they get bolted to walls, but back then...
Anyway, Lauren and I were the two young lawyers on the case, on opposite sides, and became friends. She's a Southern Jewess, from VA, and married a LI Italian named Tom. Years later, we took a cruise with friends, and coincidentally Lauren and Tom were on the same one with their 4 kids, and later we visited each other's houses in ATL and here. I've referred her cases, and she's handled a bizarre collection one for us. That one came to memory yesterday.
A Homestead fellow who we had represented moved to rural Baxley, GA with his wife and child to follow a minister who relocated there -- kind of a cultish thing, as I recall. Tragically, his wife and kid were killed by a candy company truck, and he called me, and Allison and I flew up to Jville, rented a car, and drove to "Deliverance" land. Paul and I got the case settled within a month or so, for the $1M policy.
But then the client with assistance from a local lawyer, pulled a fast one. Before we distributed the funds, the local lawyer had the client fire us, hire him (at a reduced fee) and tried to shut us out, even though we had done our job. We retained Lauren, and indignantly told her we wanted to fight the interloper vigorously. She filed an appearance for us, but told us that maybe 2 Miami city slicker lawyers wouldn't get such a fair shake in a Ga rural county where the judge and stealing lawyer were likely hunting buddies. We ended up settling with the gonif -- still earning a nice fee -- and paying Lauren for her time. Man -- that was a long, long time ago.
Anyway, Lauren's girl Jamie graduated UT Austin and does digital marketing, and moved to Edgewater. Lauren and I decided maybe it would be a good idea to have Jamie meet D1, who is more connected to the Youts of Miami than I ever was. I had last seen Jamie as a little girl -- she's a beautiful young woman, and the 4 of us had a great lunch. I called for the check, and Lauren pulled MY move -- she had "gone to the bathroom" and paid it -- saying I ALWAYS got the check, and she wanted to reciprocate.
I told her "Boys Pay" and we laughed, since I was with 3 feminist women. The burger was terrific, by the way.
Today holds little except March Madness -- the Canes are improbably still in The Dance -- they play favored Purdue at noon. Tuesday there are MORE sports -- Norman has invited Barry and me to the final Panthers game. He gets Panther Bucks he has to spend each season or they go to waste, and he generously buys my grandsons amazing swag -- the boys love their Cats jerseys -- and Baby Man uses the padded hockey stick to smack Little Man every once in awhile. They'll be thanking Tio Norman.
Other than that, Spring has sprung, and mercifully the weather remains gorgeous. I might even get a night or 2 of firepit use this week before the heat starts again, and we won't see night temps starting with a 6 for a long while.
In April, I shall apply for Medicare, to have it in place by my July birthday, and mercifully say adios to my monthly Obamacare premiums of $2200. Medicare, the traditional kind with a top supplement package, will still cost $1K per month, but the coverage will be better. What a time when I am HAPPY about paying $2K per month for Wifey and my health coverage.
Hey -- hopefully I keep paying and use little to no of the coverage. That would be just fine with me.
But for today, when the sun rises, I shall walk in the coolness of early Miami Spring. Wifey sleeps on.
And the moments are precious.
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