I love the Christmas season. As the old song goes, "it's the most wonderful time of the year!"
This has been an especially joyous Christmas, as I welcomed my eighth grandchild on November 7. Our youngest daughter, Mandy, came home from Korea (where my son-in-law works for the U.S. State Department) in September to have the baby, and we have had the pleasure of having her (along with the baby and the 20-month-old "big sister") staying with us. I will be very sad to see them leave on New Year's Eve, although I know that they are anxious to get back to their own home.
Our neighborhood is awash in Christmas lights and decorations, and the annual parade of cars driving through the neighborhood to view the sights has begun. I am almost through with my Christmas shopping, and we have just begun wrapping the gifts. And I am beside myself with excitement and anticipation of our Christmas celebration this weekend with all four of my daughters and all eight of my grandchildren.
Normally, I don't like crowds and I detest shopping, but I always seem to get carried away by the Christmas spirit when shopping with my wife for Christmas gifts. I love the hustle and bustle of the season and the sights and smells that are uniquely connected with Christmas.
There are some who might be expecting me to insert at this point a reminder of the "real meaning of Christmas". But I am going to leave that task to others. It seems as though those who would presume to remind us of the "true meaning of Christmas" would prefer that we temper our celebration of the season, suggesting that the joy we experience in the shopping, decorating and gift giving is somehow unseemly or in some way disregards the "reason for the season".
Christmas is a time of celebration. It is a time for me to be grateful for my family, friends, colleagues and clients. And it is a time for me to celebrate the greatest gift the world has ever known -- the birth of Christ.
It truly is "the most wonderful time of the year!"
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Becoming a Better Lawyer
I just had a birthday. In my younger days, my birthday was cause for celebration of what I believed would be an exciting future. However, I recently have begun to use the occasion to reflect upon my past and the many turning points in my life, all culminating in the who and what I have come to be. Although I still look to an exciting future still to be experienced, I do so with greater circumspection, realizing that I cannot disregard or dismiss my past if I am to fully engage in my future.
My law school dean and mentor, the late and legendary Angus S. McSwain, once said that human character is built up of the innumerable and apparently insignificant choices a person must make in the course of a lifetime. "It is not the work of a minute, or a week, or a year," he said. "The going is rough. But every day, as we make decisions that seem small and unimportant, we are fitting together the pieces of the pattern which will show the picture of our real self."
As I reflect upon those choices that I have made in my life which seemed at the time to be small and insignificant, the result of their cumulative effect is humbling, and I am bound to acknowledge the fact that God has used my choices - even those improvidently and unwisely made - to place me in a position to be of service to Him and to His people. And I must admit that I never intended to design a plan for my life that would place me in the position in which I now find myself. My plan was to create for myself a certain level of financial security. Rich and famous would have been nice, but I was willing to settle for "comfortable". The thought of being of any meaningful service to God and to His people never entered my mind.
When I decided that I would become a lawyer, I labored under the common misconception that all lawyers are wealthy, and although many of us earn above-average incomes, the truth is that lawyers are no different from most people who are trying to make a living. Although I have been blessed with what some might call "success" in my career, I have undergone many of the same struggles experienced by many others - mostly due to my many improvident and unwise decisions that I previously mentioned.
The miracle is that the struggles I have experienced have been the instrument by which I discovered that there is more to life than acquiring wealth and financial security. That is not to say that financial security is an unworthy goal. Instead, my quest for it must be tempered by my acknowledgment of the fact that I am under a greater obligation to seek and do what I believe God would have me do, and that performing His work should be my first priority. And when my priorities are properly placed, I find fulfillment that transcends any financial security that I might achieve through the accumulation of wealth.
I must admit that I still struggle with the almost overpowering compulsion to try to increase my own wealth. But as the birthdays come and go, and as these times of reflection are put to good use, I am becoming much better at recognizing and doing that which I am called to do, and as I improve upon that, I become a much better lawyer.
R. David Weaver
My law school dean and mentor, the late and legendary Angus S. McSwain, once said that human character is built up of the innumerable and apparently insignificant choices a person must make in the course of a lifetime. "It is not the work of a minute, or a week, or a year," he said. "The going is rough. But every day, as we make decisions that seem small and unimportant, we are fitting together the pieces of the pattern which will show the picture of our real self."
As I reflect upon those choices that I have made in my life which seemed at the time to be small and insignificant, the result of their cumulative effect is humbling, and I am bound to acknowledge the fact that God has used my choices - even those improvidently and unwisely made - to place me in a position to be of service to Him and to His people. And I must admit that I never intended to design a plan for my life that would place me in the position in which I now find myself. My plan was to create for myself a certain level of financial security. Rich and famous would have been nice, but I was willing to settle for "comfortable". The thought of being of any meaningful service to God and to His people never entered my mind.
When I decided that I would become a lawyer, I labored under the common misconception that all lawyers are wealthy, and although many of us earn above-average incomes, the truth is that lawyers are no different from most people who are trying to make a living. Although I have been blessed with what some might call "success" in my career, I have undergone many of the same struggles experienced by many others - mostly due to my many improvident and unwise decisions that I previously mentioned.
The miracle is that the struggles I have experienced have been the instrument by which I discovered that there is more to life than acquiring wealth and financial security. That is not to say that financial security is an unworthy goal. Instead, my quest for it must be tempered by my acknowledgment of the fact that I am under a greater obligation to seek and do what I believe God would have me do, and that performing His work should be my first priority. And when my priorities are properly placed, I find fulfillment that transcends any financial security that I might achieve through the accumulation of wealth.
I must admit that I still struggle with the almost overpowering compulsion to try to increase my own wealth. But as the birthdays come and go, and as these times of reflection are put to good use, I am becoming much better at recognizing and doing that which I am called to do, and as I improve upon that, I become a much better lawyer.
R. David Weaver
Friday, September 30, 2011
October Baseball in Texas!
College and professional football have made their customary annual Fall invasion upon the television screen, but I have not forgotten that there is another game in town -- Playoff Baseball. Regardless of how the Rangers fare this post-season, they still are my team, just as they have been my team since arriving here in 1972.
I last held season tickets to the Rangers in the late 1980s at old Arlington Stadium, but I found that I was unable to attend all of the home games, myself, and during those years, tickets to the Rangers games were not easy to give away. Now, with the Rangers in their "new" Ballpark, season tickets are a luxury that I just cannot afford!
Fortunately, I have some very good friends who have access to tickets (season and otherwise), and, knowing my fondness of the game, they generously provide me with seats to enough games each year to keep my baseball addiction in check. One of my good friends even made it possible for me to attend the second home playoff game on October 1 against Tampa Bay.
For next year, I am seriously considering looking into one of the multi-game packages that the Rangers began offering some time ago, but even at that, the investment will be rather substantial, and I likely would have to curtail some of my other "recreational expenses" to afford it.
Generous friends who have shared their tickets with me, and the fact that I have a business that affords me the chance to at least consider purchasing a season package (albeit a "mini-package"), cause me to pause and be grateful for the blessings that I have been given.
So today, I give thanks to God, to my family and to my special friends for bestowing upon me so many of the blessings that now shape and form the fabric of my life.
GO RANGERS!
I last held season tickets to the Rangers in the late 1980s at old Arlington Stadium, but I found that I was unable to attend all of the home games, myself, and during those years, tickets to the Rangers games were not easy to give away. Now, with the Rangers in their "new" Ballpark, season tickets are a luxury that I just cannot afford!
Fortunately, I have some very good friends who have access to tickets (season and otherwise), and, knowing my fondness of the game, they generously provide me with seats to enough games each year to keep my baseball addiction in check. One of my good friends even made it possible for me to attend the second home playoff game on October 1 against Tampa Bay.
For next year, I am seriously considering looking into one of the multi-game packages that the Rangers began offering some time ago, but even at that, the investment will be rather substantial, and I likely would have to curtail some of my other "recreational expenses" to afford it.
Generous friends who have shared their tickets with me, and the fact that I have a business that affords me the chance to at least consider purchasing a season package (albeit a "mini-package"), cause me to pause and be grateful for the blessings that I have been given.
So today, I give thanks to God, to my family and to my special friends for bestowing upon me so many of the blessings that now shape and form the fabric of my life.
GO RANGERS!
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Saying "Goodbye" is Never Easy
I was once told by Al Dewlen, an award winning and best selling novelist, that a writer must have something worthwhile to say before he sets pen to paper and commences to write. Over the years, he told me many things -- mostly useful and often hilarious.
Early yesterday morning, this remarkable man -- who happened to be my stepdad -- died.
So, after many months of not posting on this forum, I finally have something to say. But what I have to say is very difficult, because it is my farewell to a man who has meant so much to my mother, to me and to my family.
I could begin my farewell by reciting his literary works, including those best-sellers that were made into major motion pictures during the early sixties.
Or, I could mention the heroic death of his son and my step-brother, Marine Lt. Michael Dewlen, which spawned his widely read and courageous Reader's Digest feature article that led to some of the most horrific and debased hate mail that a writer ever received.
I could mention his own service in the Marine Corps during World War II, when he and four other of his fellow Marines were charged with supervising 30,000 Japanese soldiers who had surrendered in China, and about how he spent more than two years in the Pacific Theater during the war without sleeping a single night indoors.
And, for the first time, I could mention his meritorious service with the Central Intelligence Agency and for which he was awarded one of the highest honors given by that institution.
I could talk about his early newspaper career, when he oversaw the growth of the daily newspaper in Amarillo from a publication with a very small circulation to one of the most influential newspapers in the state.
I could mention his devotion to Baylor University (my own alma mater), and speak of the generous monetary contributions that he made to the school and its athletic programs. To say how much would be bragging, so I will defer, as he would have wished.
But all of that is the stuff for a newspaper article reporting the passing of a public figure. This is personal. Even though I am no spring chicken, myself, I have lost my stepdad, and I loved, admired and respected him.
Some years ago, Al met my widowed mother on a blind date. And although they were mature, level-headed people, they almost immediately fell in love, and within three weeks they were married. I never before saw couple so much in love. And they did everything together. My daughter, Erin, described the relationship better than perhaps I could describe it. She said, "Al and grandma were soul mates." And indeed they were.
With no disrespect toward any of their former spouses, including my own father, I believe that I can say with some confidence that Al and my mother shared a love, companionship and mutual respect that they never before had experienced with anyone else.
And so, with the fondest of memories that will remain with me for the rest of my life, I now say, "Farewell, Dad."
Early yesterday morning, this remarkable man -- who happened to be my stepdad -- died.
So, after many months of not posting on this forum, I finally have something to say. But what I have to say is very difficult, because it is my farewell to a man who has meant so much to my mother, to me and to my family.
I could begin my farewell by reciting his literary works, including those best-sellers that were made into major motion pictures during the early sixties.
Or, I could mention the heroic death of his son and my step-brother, Marine Lt. Michael Dewlen, which spawned his widely read and courageous Reader's Digest feature article that led to some of the most horrific and debased hate mail that a writer ever received.
I could mention his own service in the Marine Corps during World War II, when he and four other of his fellow Marines were charged with supervising 30,000 Japanese soldiers who had surrendered in China, and about how he spent more than two years in the Pacific Theater during the war without sleeping a single night indoors.
And, for the first time, I could mention his meritorious service with the Central Intelligence Agency and for which he was awarded one of the highest honors given by that institution.
I could talk about his early newspaper career, when he oversaw the growth of the daily newspaper in Amarillo from a publication with a very small circulation to one of the most influential newspapers in the state.
I could mention his devotion to Baylor University (my own alma mater), and speak of the generous monetary contributions that he made to the school and its athletic programs. To say how much would be bragging, so I will defer, as he would have wished.
But all of that is the stuff for a newspaper article reporting the passing of a public figure. This is personal. Even though I am no spring chicken, myself, I have lost my stepdad, and I loved, admired and respected him.
Some years ago, Al met my widowed mother on a blind date. And although they were mature, level-headed people, they almost immediately fell in love, and within three weeks they were married. I never before saw couple so much in love. And they did everything together. My daughter, Erin, described the relationship better than perhaps I could describe it. She said, "Al and grandma were soul mates." And indeed they were.
With no disrespect toward any of their former spouses, including my own father, I believe that I can say with some confidence that Al and my mother shared a love, companionship and mutual respect that they never before had experienced with anyone else.
And so, with the fondest of memories that will remain with me for the rest of my life, I now say, "Farewell, Dad."
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