With only mild reluctance, I have returned to the Valley after a very special summer of full-gas joy in Europe with my not-so-little-anymore nugget. Landing at EGE, I gave twin thanks to be able to come back to such a magical place and to have been able to escape the singular orbit of this geography. Living here for more than a third of my life has been supremely inspiring, but it took some extended time away to both appreciate its blessings and to clock that I needed fresh inputs. Many friends and acquaintances have welcomed me home, more than a few wondering about the details of my vacation. But I was not on vacation, I was simply living my life. It is an important distinction.
Primarily, I was working the entire time away. To have a law partner, clients, and a community that support my freedom to work untethered from a desk is an integral part of my existence and one that I do not take for granted. In return for this grace, I am readily available to assist with conflict resolution needs no matter if I am sitting at a café in Paris, biking through Warsaw, or sitting on a chairlift back at home. It can be minorly complex to adjust to time differences, to put off that visit to Centre Pompidou until the next day to address a pressing matter, to be writing e-mails on a plane instead of watching a movie. But, frankly, these are tiny obstacles to the most worthy of endeavors: to have no boundaries between life and work.
When my mind and body is challenged daily, when I am struck every day by beauty of the natural or artificial variety, when I am surrounded by a foreign language, when I am bowled over by the smell of a unique dish, when I have problems to solve (usually multiple per day), I am living a balanced life. Yes, it is important to unplug fully every now and again. But, I have come to know myself pretty well and having each day be a mélange of fun, stress, serendipity, and terror is the way that I best operate. Organization of my time is the key; as long as I can fit everything into each day, or know how to appropriately triage, all is well.
Not only can vacation be life, but the opposite is also true. The most mundane quotidian chores can be an opportunity for humor, for satisfaction, for communion, for reflection, for release. This is why I always look forward to grocery shopping, to visiting with the dental hygienist, to singing along to pop hits during carpool, to kibbitzing with the nurse at my physical, to just talking with strangers on the street. Especially since my recent return allowed me to clock that the pace of life here is so much more aggressive than I realized, it is critical to impart jubilation into as many crevices of your day as is possible. Sure, some days are just plain terrible, but that can be just as true on your trip to the Amalfi Coast as it is in Edwards.
Ever since we have gotten Alpenglow Law dialed, I have not been working toward some future retirement date because I truly love my vocation and, by extension, my life, since they are essentially inextricable. When each day is an adventure, when I do not have to be locked up in an office tower, when I can largely choose how each hour of my life is spent, there is no impetus to stop. Senility or death are the only forecasted reasons for my forced retirement. And, even then, I will probably be helping solve quarrels in whichever afterlife awaits.
This past summer was the proof of concept for a truly global conflict resolution practice, not to mention the best summer school and climbing camp for Violet that I can imagine. We are already starting to postulate our homebase for summer 2024. Don’t fret: I am always just an easy Zoom (or, if needed, plane flight) away!