Turning Pages - Or Where I Have Been Lately

You may have wondered where I have been for the last couple of weeks.  As I have gotten older, I have become more and more involved in things I wanted to do when I was younger but I didn't have the time, or I didn't have the skills, or I didn't have the money, or family got in the way.  All of that is gone…well…I still don’t have any money…but I do have the time and the inclination.  What I don’t have is the strength.  Like I say…none of us is 20 anymore.  And I get tired!!!!

Those who know me know I tend to overcompensate.  It’s okay most of the time, but from time to time all the work convergences and then I am kaput.  Add to the mix my normal business routine, I am overwrought!!!  But at age 63, I am holding my own.  It’s all about turning pages.  Turning the page from what you have to do to what you want to do.

Much of my practice is in elder law.  I don’t do the complicated stuff, but I know the basics.  You learn real fast what happens as you get older.  Some…a very few…live well into their nineties.  My uncle will turn 100 this August and he didn't turn his pages until his wife and daughter passed away.  He made the most of the few years he had left.  He recently entered into a nursing home.  But up until last November he wanted his scotch and his steak.  He loved to shop.  He loved to go to dinner. 

Others aren't as lucky as my uncle.  Some people say death is the great equalizer.  They are wrong; it’s nursing homes.  You can have $300 million or $30.00.  You will be treated the same.

So, the lesson is do what you want now.  I have always liked arts and culture so I have chosen to become heavily involved.  It’s a fascinating world of beautiful venues and beautiful music and wonderful plays and art…tempered by money, politics, and interesting people who run these organizations.  All of them are originals, some more than others. They are all a breed unto themselves.  And all of them are great and I have been privileged to know and to work with them.  Many of them are my age filling the gaps in their lives, selflessly serving the public good by offering beauty in an often times ugly world.  Some are like me finding areas where they can excel.  "Arts and culture" is an area where my legal and political and business abilities are propelling me to do things I could only dream of when I was younger…fearlessly hiring lobbyists…charging to Columbus to meet with high ranking politicos….meeting the crème de la crème in a world of culture I had only read about…meeting LIBERALS and finding we have much more in common than an old conservative like me would care to admit. 

I actually got to sit in on a meeting of one of the most liberal foundations in the state.  Here’s what I found out.  Just as in the private sector, the folks who run the foundations expect results.  Maybe they measure the results in something different than profit or business success, but they have their goals and ways to measure if they are attained.  Each of these organizations compete for money, then compete for success.  Fascinating. 

Turning pages means change.  It is a humbling experience starting a new life in a new area.  But at my age, the secret is not to care about what others think, or the mistakes you might make.  Who gives a damn  if people think you are nuts.  You probably are!!!  And any mistake can be fixed.  200 years from now it won’t make any difference.  You will be lucky if there is someone to cut the grass on your grave.

I have spent the last several weeks turning pages.  Hopefully things will start to slow down again.  Then I can write and reflect…and I don’t care what anybody thinks!!!