Ringer

Life got in the way of writing again this morning, even though finally I woke up on time. Today my misstep was checking email first. I got an email from the lawyer we hired to help with the vexing problem. As a once-practicing attorney myself, it’s interesting to see how easily I’ve become a fairly lame client. I’m resistant to her instructions. I’m angry at her for not just “making it better.” I don’t really want to know what she has to say.

But she persists in helping me, and I’ll persist in paying her, and mostly doing what she tells me to do. It’s not the advice of a zen master she offers. It’s the advice of a lawyer, who knows the particulars of the game being played in our backyard by some real estate developers who just want to win, as defined by creating maximum saleable square footage.

Well, I want to win too. I’m going to try to keep our backyard private and keep my inner peace at the same time. That would be a win. I’m willing to let go of everything to keep my serenity, but for now we’ve hired a ringer. And I’m grateful.