A couple of days ago, our very good friends, Dianne and Gary Lembo, who live and work in Las Vegas- Gary a big shot in the “fitness business” and Diane working in several different occupations, flew to San Francisco just to enjoy the day doing their thing and meeting Max and me for dinner at the Il Fornaio Italian restaurant. Dianne and Maxine formerly worked together as travel agents in Newport Beach many years ago and became fast friends. The visit got me to thinking; I am glad I didn’t wait for retirement before traveling and doing and seeing and enjoying our travels to Europe.
Kenny Lae was an Orange County Superior Court Judge, married to Karen. Karen worked at “The Plank House,” the local watering hole I mentioned in an earlier blog where the local legal trial community would meet after court to unwind. Karen branched out and, with a couple of partners, opened a travel agency in the Mission Viejo, El Toro area in Orange County. Max had a lot of social friends, and as a result, Karen asked Max to come to work for her at her agency, which Max did. Max learned the business, how to work the computers and other things, and became quite good at it. As a result, Max was offered a job with a larger and more local agency in Newport Beach, where she developed quite a large clientele consisting of the powers in the business world, the social world and the legal community. Max was very successful. Max was approached by Warren Knight, who was the founder and head of a mediation and arbitration service called “Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Service,” referred to in the business as “JAMES.” Warren retired as the former presiding Superior Court judge to form this business. Basically, he would arbitrate or mediate legal disputes between plaintiffs and defendants. The business started to grow, and Jack Trotter left his job as a justice of the 4th District Court of Appeals where Jack was the presiding judge to join Warren. Before they knew it, the company grew from Orange County to all of California, staffed by retired judges, to a national company involving disputes between individuals to employer/employee disputes, landlord tenant and other problems between parties, Basically, it started small and grew tremendously. In the beginning, as the company grew, it became necessary for the former judges now employed as mediators or arbitrators to travel, and Warren sought out Maxine to arrange for the travel of the various judges throughout California, so there was loads of business for Maxine. Max and Warren’s wife, Carolyn, became good friends and occasionally they would go to a Spa in Mexico called La Puerto to do the Spa thing. Max continued to work in the travel industry until she retired and was very good at it. So I could go on about her various high-end clients, but you get the idea. Well as I mentioned above, Max and Dianne were pals and did a lot of things together, such as the 3 day walk for breast cancer research, sometimes in Southern California, from Santa Barbara to Malibu, or in the Bay Area, from Sunnyvale to San Francisco and other walks including the oldest one, the “Bay to Breakers” in San Francisco.
So, as a travel agent, Max talked me into a vacation trip to Italy and France. I have to admit though, I never thought about travel. I was really into my work as a criminal defense attorney; I had a lot of clients through referrals from civil attorneys and the large firms and either two or three lawyers working with or for me, as well as two or three secretaries and an office manager to supervise. So it would be hard for me to ever lave the practice for any length of time Well Max talked me into it anyway for a trip to Italy and France. We got upgraded to 1st class on Air France. We were shown our seats, got comfortable and I, of course, pulled out my important brief case and started to work, first by reviewing a couple of cases I brought with me. Max looked over. “What are you doing?” she asked. “Working” I replied curtly. Max paused, looked at me and then said, “I am going to write down how much this trip is going to cost.” And so she did, handing me the slip of paper; I read it, put my work away, asked the flight attendant for some champagne, and caviar, and that was the last of work until I got home.
The reason I say don’t wait to follow your dreams is “one never knows.” I now can’t work as a trial lawyer, which was such a great part of my life, and I miss it. I can’t walk distances anymore, and I miss it. I can’t travel anymore and I miss it. Adjusting to retirement is very hard for me. Days drag by very slowly and I have nothing to do. So don’t wait until you find yourself unable to do those things you have planned, as you never know what can happen if you wait. I do see a few colleagues for lunch and, on occasion, an attorney may seek my opinion on an issue, and these are my only connections to the legal world, and for that, I am grateful, but it is hell not being able to walk distances, drive a car, or just live a normal full life. SO DON’Y WAIT UNTIL IT IS TOO LATE. As I write this, I say to myself, “quit whining, you’re 91 years old, enjoy what you have, and you really have lived, thanks to Max, a pretty complete life.” OK , I will. and try to enjoy what I have left. Great wife, great kids and grandkids, so don’t complain!
Marshall
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