I started doing this kind of work when I was a very young boy. I believe I was about 11 or 12 the first time I went to work with my dad and grandfather. I will admit that I didn’t do much back then, other than watch and ask a bunch of questions. Most of the questions were whether we were almost done yet, or was it lunch time yet! Mostly I remember my father and grandfather answering me by saying, “pay attention”…. And now, many decades later, I am so grateful I listened and that I paid attention. My dad also used to be fond of saying how great this country is, “You can be anything you want to be. You just have to put your blinders on and go get it.” With this thought festering in the back of my mind, in the early 1990’s I decided to go back to night school and became a lawyer. Yes, an attorney. I am a duly licensed member of the Bar Association of the states of Florida and Massachusetts. I practiced Real Estate Law, Business Consulting, Estate Planning, and worked for a Large Corporation during the initial 10 years of my licensure… And then one day, I was sitting at my desk in Florida, and I said to myself, “I really miss working with my hands and pounding nails.” But, how do I do that type of work and still practice law? That was the question that I had to answer. So, I decided to make a few changes. I decided to make my law practice a little different than what it had been and much different than what most attorneys do. I also changed my focus. I now limit my law practice to Estate Planning, where I help people “plan for the day when they will run out of days”. It is a focus that allows me to give the best personalized service to my clients, the way I do with my carpentry/home repair customers. When I get a call from a potential legal client, I meet them at their home, at their kitchen table, just like when I get a call from a potential home repair customer asking for an estimate for a particular project or repair. I go to them. In other words, I make house calls for both of my businesses. With these changes, I have been happy as a clam ever since…. I guess it’s true that you never really understand how much you miss something, until you stop doing it…. My grandmother used to say “stay in school”. My grandfather always said “never sell your tools, as someone will always need a pair of steps…” They were both right. Now, I am in my sixties, (did I say that out loud?) and I enjoy the heck out of what I do every day. It is a challenge, it has great variety, and
I meet nice, new people, all the time.